Gryffindor's Golden Girl to Slytherin's Princess
by Rumaan
Summary: The Golden Trio are back at Hogwarts for their final year after the end of the war. However Hogwarts still has one more trick up it's sleeve when McGonagall decides to switch Hermione from Gryffindor to Slytherin to promote unity. EWE
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Before reading this fic, please be aware that this fanfic contains poor grammar and a plot that I would heavily rewrite if I could be bothered. I personally would suggest you read some of my later fics as they have been betaed and also plotted out better, but if you go ahead and read this, then please do not send me reviews or messages about problematic aspects of the plot, or the hideous state of the grammar, as I am aware of this but am not interested in going back and rewriting the majority of the story or getting it betaed in it's current form. **

**Please be gentle as this is my first attempt at writing any fiction let alone fan fiction since school. Please review and let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I'm obviously not J K Rowling if I was then I'd be too busy spending my money to write fan fiction**

**Chapter 1**

Hermione smiled as she looked around the Great Hall. They had been back at Hogwarts for a month, and the simple pleasure she got from the routine was immense. The stress of being on the run, hunting down Horcruxes and the final battle was replaced with the simplicity of studying for her NEWTs. Hermione was more than happy to take a back-seat this year. She had passed up the opportunity to be Head Girl. Prior to the insanity of the past few years being, Head Girl had been her ultimate ambition. Now, she wanted nothing more than to revel in her lack of responsibility. Besides, Hogwarts couldn't have had two more compatible heads than Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott. It was good to see others shining in the spotlight, something the so-called Golden Trio were more than happy to pass on.

Hermione looked down Gryffindor's table. Ron and Harry had their heads together as always, planning their strategy for Quidditch domination this year. Ginny was busy carrying out an expressive facial conversation with Luna across at Ravenclaw's table. The four had decided not long after the battle that remaining friends was more of a priority than possible relationships between them. Besides, they had all agreed that pairing off so conveniently was a little too trite, no matter how much the wizarding community seemed to clamour for it. None of them wished to remain romantically involved because it was a nice media story.

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Could all seventh years stay behind please?"

The Great Hall broke into chatter as the lower years glanced at their older counterparts wondering what the problem could be. Ginny stared over at Hermione who shrugged, as non-plussed as she was.

The Great Hall emptied slowly much to McGongall's annoyance. McGonagall surveyed her top year, noticing the absent seats of those who had fallen in battle just a few months ago. A stranger to Hogwarts wouldn't have believed that these were students such was the age and weariness apparent in so many eyes. None of the petty squabbling that had attached themselves to previous years was visible with this particular year. Not even the animosity which raged inevitably between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses from the year dot was traceable. Very surprising when you considered the bad blood that had gone before, especially between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Both young men were currently sitting quietly with a patience that had never been part of their make up. Potter no longer felt every injustice with such burning passion and Malfoy's perpetual arrogant sneer had disappeared. Indeed, McGonagall had been heartened to see a small thawing between the two house leaders which had been taken up by their friends. Nothing more than a small nod of acknowledgement, but more than she could ever have hoped for two years ago.

It was such a shame that this attitude hadn't seeped into the younger years of their houses. Nothing, it appeared, could stem the petty in-fights that kept breaking out between the Gryffindor and Slytherin students from the fifth-years and below. McGonagall had reached breaking point just yesterday when a mass brawl had broken out in the Charms corridor. Several students had ended up in the infirmary. It was then that she had come to accept the rather drastic solution which she hoped that her seventh-years could accept with a modicum of grace that would then filter through the lower years. Well, time to get on with it.

"I'm sure it has come to your attention that despite the excellent example being set by yourselves, and on a whole the sixth years, the rest of the school is having problems letting bygones be bygones," McGonagall started.

Hermione felt a shiver of unease as McGonagall's eyes flashed quickly to her. She saw what she thought was a little guilt residing at the back of them. Hermione shook her head slightly, sure she was imagining things.

"It is with this in mind that I have a rather melodramatic, but necessary, measure to help promote inter-house unity amongst the rest of the school." McGonagall could hear the shuffling as her students realised something not so great was going to be placed on them.

"I've decided that it would be beneficial for a member of both Gryffindor and Slytherin to switch houses for the rest of the term." McGonagall blocked out the gasps and whispered exclamations and continued on.

"Therefore would Miss Granger and Miss Parkinson please follow me to discuss the finer details?" On this note McGonagall swept down the Hall, motioning to both girls to follow her.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as Hermione took in the reactions of her house mates. Ron and Harry had equal expressions of disbelief on their faces as she rose to her feet and gathered her belongings up in clumsy haste. She looked across the Hall and saw Pansy Parkinson mirroring her actions. They stumbled after McGonagall, both in too much shock to do much else.

_McGonagall's Office_

In what felt like no time at all, Hermione and Pansy were in the head mistress' office facing McGonagall. The portraits were muttering amongst themselves. Hermione glanced up and saw the twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore gazing down at her. It was then that she realised precisely who was behind this hair brained scheme. Next to Dumbledore was a less than happy portrait. The sour expression on Severus Snape's face showed exactly what he thought of this idea.

Pansy whimpered next to Hermione. "But, Professor, I don't understand."

McGonagall sighed "Look, I know this is very unfair to the both of you, but frankly the situation in the lower years is getting out of control. We need to send a strong message that such behaviour is not acceptable. I cannot think of a better way of encouraging inter-house unity than in switching a couple of members into other houses."

Behind McGonagall's head, Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "As tough as it may seem, Miss Parkinson and Miss Granger, it was felt that the two of you would be open minded enough to cope with such a situation. You have both come so far over the last few months and we need two people with cool heads and tact to carry this through."

To his left, Snape snorted. Hermione found herself in agreement with her old potions master. She also disagreed with the idea that Parkinson was open-minded or cool headed. Her shriek during the final battle to hand Harry over to Voldemort forcibly came to mind.

As if sensing her thoughts, Snape looked at her and sneered, "You're very quiet about this, Miss Granger. No opinion to give for once?"

Hermione looked away from Snape and settled her steady gaze on McGonagall. "I take it there is no way out?"

McGonagall shook her head and gave Hermione a small smile. She knew she could count on her to take the news with dignity and make the best of a bad situation. "Sorry, Miss Granger, but my mind is made up. You and Miss Parkinson are to change places from tomorrow. You will effectively be a Slytherin, living in their dorms, sitting at their house table and earning them points and vice versa for Miss Parkinson."

Hermione sighed deeply and turned to look at Pansy who was shell shocked.

"I suggest you both go and pack. I encourage you to spend the last evening for a while with your house friends. From tomorrow, you will both be encouraged to spend time with your new house. I won't have you slipping off for evenings in your former common rooms. I also ask for you both to sit with your houses in all lessons. Understood?" Both Hermione and Pansy nodded.

"Very well then, off you go," McGonagall said ushering both girls to the door.

She lent back in her chair in relief as the door closed behind them. She looked up at Dumbledore and said, "Well, Albus, I'm still to be convinced that your idea will work."

Albus smiled back. "Give it time, Minerva. I'm sure there will be fireworks, but that these seventh-years will surprise us all in the end."

Snape snorted once more and stalked off to his portrait in the Slytherin dungeons.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: My first attempt at any real dialogue so please excuse glaring OOC-ness. The Slytherins are so far proving to have a life of their own and are coming out differently to how I imagined. I appear to be giving them a lot of self-reflexion which I didn't initially intend to do but that's how they are writing themselves. They are demanding to be mature grown ups! So sorry if that comes across as completely unrealistic. Then again, this plotline is hardly realistic.**

**Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs solely to JK Rowling and only the inadequacies of this story belong to me.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

_Gryffindor Common Room_

Hermione took a deep, calming breathe before turning the corner to the Gryffindor common room.

The Fat Lady greeted Hermione "Looks like I'll have to change the password tomorrow young lady. You'll no longer be one of mine if the information Violet tells me is correct."

"Yes, it's been decided that I'm to switch to Slytherin for the rest of the term."

"That's a pity dear. I'll miss you especially since you've tamed your night-time excursions." With that the Fat Lady swung the portrait open and Hermione stepped in the storm that was the Gryffindor common room.

Harry, Ron and Ginny came flying over, "What's happening Hermione?" "Is McGonagall for real?" "They can't let you go and live with those snakes, they'll kill you." The last sentenced was yelled by Ron who was red in the face. The common room quietened down, all eyes on Hermione.

She smiled sadly at her three friends "Sorry guys, McGonagall is adamant. I'm to switch houses tomorrow."

"We're not having it," Ron shouted "Harry, go and tell McGonagall now that she cannot allow this to happen."

Hermione put an arm around each of her boys "It's not going to work Ron. Not even the Boy-Who-Lived can get me out of this one. It's all Dumbledore's idea."

Ron audibly ground his teeth and stomped over to the fire. Hermione followed dragging Harry and Ginny behind her. "C'mon Ron, lets make the most of this last evening. After all it's going to be a while until I'm home again."

Harry grinned at Hermione. You could always trust her to try and put a positive spin on things. "Ok I'm going to sneak to the kitchen and grab us some food. We'll give Hermione a good old fashioned send-off."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

Meanwhile, down in the Slytherin dungeon, Pansy was leaning on Draco staring into the green flames. He was rubbing her arm in a comforting manner whilst glaring at the portrait of his godfather.

"I can't believe you allowed this to happen, Severus. I mean really, what is McGonagall thinking allowing Dumbledore to do this," Draco said

"Now, now Draco, it's not as if I'm privy to the insane workings of those Gryffindor minds. I fought against this as much as I could. But Professor Dumbledore's mind was made up."

Pansy whimpered again "I can't believe I've got to be a Gryffindor for a whole two months."

Blaise Zabini snickered "You're going to come back with a sun-tan from all those sunny dispositions."

Draco shot a scowl at Blaise. Now was not the time for inane comments. He was truly worried about what would happen to Pansy. He bet the Gryffindors hadn't forgotten her impulsive desire to hand Potter over to the Dark Lord. None of the so-called noble lot would think twice about hexing her in defence of their precious Potter. From what Pansy had said, she wasn't going to be allowed to come back to the Slytherin common room for social visits.

"Oooh Potter's so going to get revenge on me," Pansy groaned unconsciously mirroring Draco's thoughts. "My life isn't going to be worth living."

"Don't worry Pans – we won't let those Gryffindorks touch you," Theodore Nott said.

"Anyway you're forgetting, we get their golden girl in return. I'll bet Potter will have his minions towing the line afraid of what we'll do to Granger in retaliation," Daphne Greengass pointed out.

Draco pondered that. Dumbledore must have loved the idea of planting his favourite muggle-born into the Slytherin dungeons. She was smart enough to figure out all their secrets and report back. Hmmm he must make sure he kept his house on a tight leash. It wouldn't do for Granger to poke her nose in all their business.

He glanced around the common room. The seventh years took up the prime seats in front of the fire. He saw huddles of fifth and fourth years. They were going to prove a challenge. Not old enough to have been privy to the Slytherin secrets during the war they clung on to the animosity. They would see Granger as fair game. A chance to get their own back on one of the Golden Trio for destroying so many pureblood families. He'd have to monitor that.

Daphne rose "Come on Pans, lets get you packed."

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Girls Dormitory<em>

The sun peaking through the high tower window woke Hermione up. She stretched and snuggled under her blankets. Then reality hit her. This was the last time for a few months that she'd be able to look out the window over the grounds of Hogwarts. As of tonight she'd be down in the dank dungeons probably contracting consumption. Argh why did it have to be her?

Despite the brave face she'd put on last night, Hermione was worried. Muggle-borns weren't exactly welcome by the snakes. Slytherins had made her life hell from moment she'd stepped foot in Hogwarts. Now she was going to effectively be one of them. Not that they would ever consider her one. She was going to sleep with one eye open. So much for her relaxing year back at school.

Hermione had the last of her bags packed and strode into the Great Hall. She deliberately made her way over the Gryffindor table. She wasn't going to be sitting at her new house table until forced by McGonagall. Buttering her toast, she felt a pang in her heart as she realised this would be the last time she got to listen to Ginny cheerfully talking the rest of the table to death. Ron sleepily stuffed his face with a full English breakfast, nodding every now again at his sister to pretend he was listening. Harry had given up and was snoring gently against Ginny's shoulder.

"Hey wake up, you lazy git," Ginny shouted, hitting Harry with her spoon.

"Huh? What was that for?" Harry moaned

"You're really going to spend your last morning this term with Hermione dribbling on my shoulder?"

"Er no, hi Hermione" Harry smiled sheepishly at her

She grinned back enjoying the effortless banter. Ginny was now making a drama out of wiping non existent drool from her shoulder. Shaking her long hair back, she winked at Hermione.

The owls swooped in and parchment was dropped on Hermione's plate.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_Professor McGonagall has informed me of the change in your circumstances. I'll meet you in front of the Slytherin common room after lessons finish this afternoon to give you the password and introduce you to your new house._

_I'm looking forward to seeing you shine in Slytherin colours my dear._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Horace Slughorn_

Hermione groaned. She'd forgotten about Slughorn. She thought she'd rather have Snape as head of house. At least he'd hate her and ignore her. She was probably expected to go to even more Slug Club evenings this year.

"What's up?" Ron asked

She passed the note over and then hit him as his sniggered. "Harry, guess you're not to be old Sluggy's favourite this year now Little Miss Know-It-All is in his house."

"Gee thanks Ron, so much for not wanting to let me step foot in that musty old dungeon"

Ron's wrapped his arm around her shoulder "Awww c'mon Hermione, you must admit at least Old Slug will treat you better than Snape would've."

"Give me Snape any day. The sarcastic comments and unfair treatment would have been so much more fun when he'd have had to dock points from his own house."

The end of the school day came far too quickly for two students that day. Both Pansy and Hermione anxiously willed time to slow down. Inevitable the bell rang on the last lesson of the day and they found themselves dragging their feet to opposite ends of the castle.

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Tower<em>

Pansy wiped her sweating palms on her skirt. She was due to meet the new head of Gryffindor Professor Sinistra any minute. She followed a couple of second year Gryffindors to the portrait of a large lady dressed in pink. Taking a deep breath she moved forward.

"Hello Miss Parkinson, welcome to Gryffindor," the friendly professor said.

Pansy gave a wobbly smile back. Back straight Pansy, she said to herself. Don't let them get to you. The pride of Slytherin rests on your shoulders. She threw her shoulders back and put her head high as the portrait door swung open and she strode into the lions den.

Silence greeted her as she followed Sinistra into the room. Then one by one the Gryffindor's turned their back on her. Great, she thought, this is going to more fun than I imagined.

_Slytherin Dungeon_

Hermione tucked a stray curl behind her ear as she tried to curb her nervous tendency to wring her hands.

"Miss Granger dear," came Slugorn's booming voice, "I'm so proud to welcome you into the illustrious house of Slytherin."

Hermione managed to hide her cringe as she heard this. No need to insult her new head of house. Besides she'd need all the friendly faces she could get as she was sure none of the students would be welcoming her with open arms.

In front of Slughorn, a door was revealed in the stone wall. It opened to reveal a long, low common room that was much darker that it's Gryffindor counterpart. Hermione shivered. No wonder the Slytherin's were a miserable bunch if this is where they lived. Harry and Ron hadn't done it any justice. The room was as unwelcoming as she could have possibly imagined. Chin up Hermione, you've faced and beaten Death Eaters, this lot have nothing on their parents. She laughed soundlessly and stepped into the snakes' lair.

**Authors Note 2: Please let me know if you come across any hideous typos, spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. I'm trying my hardest to edit several times to rid the story of those annoying glitches. Please review and let me know how you think the story is going**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry, I completely forgo****t to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted and favourited this story in my previous authors note. A big thank you to VegaFloyd, Ambyr0, MarissaRosee, Forwoodx3, Shark9801 and echizochi for their reviews. Please do review, I love hearing what you think so far.**

**Disclaimer: I think it's fairly obvious I'm not JK Rowling and make no money from writing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

_Gryffindor Tower_

Pansy inwardly curled in on herself as she saw the Gryffindor reaction to her presence. She had known this was likely to happen but it still stung all the same. Professor Sinistra, pretending nothing had happened, prattled on whilst leading Pansy up to the girls' dormitories. Pansy was shown into the seventh year room and whistled silently as she saw the view. Pansy loved a dramatic landscape and it was something the Slytherin dungeons lacked. She nodded absently as Sinistra said something before leaving. Pansy wasn't paying too much attention engrossed as she was with the sunset out the window. She may be facing a lonely two months but at least she had this to calm her.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Dungeon<em>

braced herself against the inevitable whispers that broke out when she appeared behind Slughorn. She found the dark atmosphere intimidating but she'd die before she showed this weakness in front of any Slytherin. Her gaze swept across the silent Slytherin seventh years grouped around the fireplace. She briefly met a pair of silver eyes which turned away before she could decipher the cryptic look. She followed Slughorn up some steps to the girls' dormitories. She inwardly gasped as she saw the intricately carved antique furniture and ran her fingers lovingly over one of the beautiful desks that already had her pile of books and parchment stacked neatly on it. She shouldn't have been surprised to see the quality of the Slytherin room but she was anyway. At least the dorm wasn't as gloomy as the common room. Indeed the fire blazing in the corner almost made it look cheerful.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

Back in the Slytherin common room Slughorn headed over to the seventh years after showing Hermione her new room, "Ah young Mr Malfoy, mind if I have a word?"

Draco nodded "Of course Professor, how can I help?"

"I just wanted to make sure you had everything under control in here. I'd hate for anything to happen to Miss Granger under my watch. Professor McGonagall would never let me forget it."

"Don't worry Professor; I've already got some contingency plans in place. We'll keep everything in check." Draco replied, gesturing to Blaise, Daphne and Theo.

"Good-O, I knew I could count on you. Good to see you've all matured since the … er …. _events _last year." Slughorn waved cheerily as he left the common room.

Draco rolled his eyes at that and caught the fairly revolted look on Snape's portrait. He suppressed a smirk and strolled back over his friends.

"What was that all about mate?" Blaise enquired

"Oh you know, Slughorn being Slughorn. Wanted to check that nothing nasty could be attached to his name from this situation."

"So what are you going to do Draco? I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice the gleeful looks some of our younger housemates have been sharing since the news of Granger joining the house was released." Theo asked.

Draco ran his hand through his hair. He'd thought about this since last night. He knew that everyone expected Granger to be hurt during the next two months. Well he'd do his utmost to prove everyone wrong. The Slytherin name had been dragged through the mud since Voldemort's resurrection and he himself had done much to damage it. But he was determined to leave a new legacy this year, one that would rebuild his house's reputation and mean he was remembered as something other than the boy Death Eater who tried to kill Dumbledore but failed.

"Daphne, I need you to try and get close to Granger. She's going to need someone to talk to. I know it won't be easy. She's going to be suspicious of us all."

Daphne screwed her nose up "Why me Drake? She drives me potty with her holier than thou attitude."

"It could hardly be Millicent could it? I'm sure Granger hasn't forgotten how many times Millie's got her in a headlock. You're the one girl here she's had least contact with." Draco turned away from Daphne "Blaise, Theo I need the pair of you to watch her. Theo, you've got library duty with Granger. Let either Blaise or I know when she's on her way back to common room so we can make sure we're here."

"You've sure given this some thought Draco," Daphne remarked.

He quirked his eyebrows "Someone had to with this preposterous idea Dumbledore's come up with." He looked up at Snape "Severus, I know you'll let me know of any plots you _accidentally_ hear hatched."

Snape looked bored at the suggestion "Already on it Draco. I couldn't bear for Minerva to get one over me on this."

Draco moved to door "Oh and Blaise, you may want to try some of that charm you're so sure you have to befriend Granger too."

Blaise smirked "And what will you be doing whilst moving us across your little chessboard Drake?"

Draco snorted "I'll be in the background making sure you idiots don't mess up. We really cannot afford to screw this up. We'll have the whole school after us if a hair is harmed on that curly head."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Girls Dormitory<em>

Hermione sighed and put her book down. Time to face the rest of her _house_mates and go to dinner. She twitched her uniform straight, patted her hair down and opened the door. The common room was quiet. A couple of third years were slowly making their way out and Zabini was lounging lazily before the fire. He lifted his head as she passed, cheekily winking at her. She threw him a puzzled look before shaking her head and following the third years out.

Entering the Great Hall, Hermione automatically made her way towards to Gryffindor table. "Oi, Granger wrong way," Zabini called from behind her.

"Damn it," she whispered to herself before turning towards the Slytherin table. She eyed the table with misgiving not sure where to sit. She then noticed a small beckoning motion from Daphne Greengrass to the space next to her. Confused, Hermione made her way over unsure whether to trust this gesture of apparent friendship.

"Thanks," Hermione murmured as she slipped onto the bench.

"No problems," Daphne said "bet it feels like first year all over again huh?"

Hermione let out a small laugh "Yeah I guess, just with lots and lots of bad blood."

Daphne looked down at her plate not knowing how to answer that, "Things change Granger. I think the last year or so has made a lot of us look deep within ourselves."

Hermione felt a pang of guilt as she saw the girl hang her head slightly. She hadn't meant to bring the past six years up. She knew that if she was going to make it through the next two months she was going to have look beyond the years of insults and hexes no matter how hard that seemed to be.

"I didn't mean it like. I guess we're all just trying to adjust to the new world and please call me Hermione."

Daphne looked up to see a small but friendly smile on the Gryffindor's face. She was slightly surprised expecting Granger to react with more venom. Although Daphne had kept herself in the background, she had followed the main crowd and had truly thought of Granger as a mudblood. The reality of the final battle had soon changed that. The futility of all those lost lives had brought into perspective the ridiculousness of worrying about someone's blood. Any more wars like that one and the wizarding world wouldn't exist let alone care about who was a 'pureblood' or a 'mudblood'.

"Only if you call me Daphne," was her grinning response.

Hermione was shocked at the open friendliness being extended to her but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She chatted casually with Daphne through the rest of dinner. Towards the end of the meal she looked over to her former table and was surprised and a little upset to see how isolated Parkinson seemed. She hadn't really given much thought to how the former Slytherin was going to get on in with the Gryffindors. She had been more concerned about her physical safety amongst those notorious for hating muggle-borns. She noticed the distance that the Gryffindors were putting between themselves and Parkinson who was sitting closest to the first years. Hermione felt a wave of compassion towards the obviously unhappy girl. That probably would have been her had Daphne not offered an olive branch.

* * *

><p><em>The Great Hall<em>

Hermione wasn't the only one noticing Pansy's predicament. Minerva McGonagall had watched the two tables like a hawk. She had initially given most of her attention to the Slytherin table. She hadn't been happy about the prospect of sending Hermione into that house but Dumbledore had persuaded her that she was much more capable of dealing with the upheaval than either Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil. Minerva knew this deep down but it didn't stop her being worried. She had been astonished to see Daphne Greengrass making space for Hermione and had followed the tentative conversation between the two girls. She also hadn't missed the slight nod Draco Malfoy had given Daphne beforehand. She had worried about that action.

She couldn't warm to Draco Malfoy despite his much more mature attitude this year. She still saw the little bully who'd made the lives of her Gryffindor students hell and who had later turned into a Death Eater. She was also concerned by the amount of control he appeared to wield over the Slytherin upper house. She saw the unconscious way the other seventh years turned to him for approval. She hadn't wanted to invite him back to Hogwarts and had had a rather heated argument with Severus on this subject. Albus had the deciding vote, shooting all her concerns down and stressing that he had seen the internal battle waging inside Draco when he'd tried to kill him on the Astronomy Tower. Albus believed that exiling him from Hogwarts would extinguish any redeeming qualities. So Minerva had swallowed her qualms and invited him back. So far he had proven Albus correct being both studious and grown up in his behaviour especially towards Harry. But despite his control over his own year and somewhat the year below, he'd been unable to calm the feud being waged in the lower years.

It was later in the meal that Minerva had frowned at the actions of her old house. She knew it had been a risk choosing Pansy but she wanted to be able to say that she'd chosen two prefects to show a fair system. No-one had extended a hand of friendship to Pansy who looked miserable and was shooting furtive glances of desperation towards her old table. She would have to speak to Harry about this. It peeved her that he hadn't taken a lead in making sure Pansy was welcomed more warmly the way it seemed Draco had.

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Table, The Great Hall<em>

Pansy was feeling wretched. She'd stayed up in her dorm room for as long possible, sneaking her way down the stairs when the common room was much quieter. She slipped as unobtrusively as she could onto the end of the Gryffindor table but didn't miss the way the first years had scooted away from her with disgust.

She'd seen the way Daphne had welcome Hermione and was pleased. Despite the past animosity, she didn't wish anyone to feel the way she currently did. God, she was turning into such a Hufflepuff.

So far she'd managed to avoid Potter and the Weasleys. She'd seen the red-headed girl shoot her several curious looks but she'd pretended to be engrossed in her food. If she got through the next few months without a show down with those three then she'd consider herself lucky.

She felt a steady gaze upon and looked up to see Draco watching from across the room. She tried not to tear up as he gestured to check she was ok. She nodded and smiled. Draco had pulled her aside this morning to talk to her. She knew that her life would be made even more difficult if the Slytherins harmed Hermione in anyway and she'd been touched that Draco had thought of this too. He'd outlined his plans to her almost as if seeking her approval. She knew that he didn't want her to feel as if she was being replaced and jealous. Pansy knew the war had left a lasting legacy on the youngest Malfoy. Despite his ruined reputation, he'd grown much more comfortable within in his own skin. Almost as if he felt he could finally be his own person without the outside world's expectations of what he should be.

Pansy watched the Great Hall empty of students and slowly got to feet, following the rest of the Gryffindors up to their tower. She slipped through the common room, keen to get the relative sanctuary of her bedroom. Luckily it was still empty. She hadn't yet set eyes on her new room-mates. She changed into her pajamas and pulled the curtains around the bed.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Dungeon<em>

As soon as Hermione entered her room, she saw the note residing on her desk. It was a missive from Neville letting her know that, as the new Slytherin prefect, she had patrolling tonight with Padma Patil from Ravenclaw. Shit, she was meant to have been meeting Padma five minutes ago.

Hermione ran down the stairs and through the common room. "Hey Granger, what's the rush?" Zabini called.

"Patrolling, I'm late," she answered, looking back before abruptly falling backwards as she ran into someone.

Winded she look up into a pair of silver eyes staring down at her. "Watch where you're going Granger," Malfoy snapped.

**AN: I know you were all beginning to doubt whether this was a Dramione fic or not. But there it is finally the beginning of some interaction between our lovely pair!**

**Also can anyone help me - I can't work out how to put segment breaks in when I switch from character / area to another and it's driving me nuts. Help with this would be hugely appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: This chapter is the shortest one yet (minus my ever lengthening author's notes). Sorry about that but I had to end it where I did for reasons that will be obvious when you reach the end.**

**Thank you to everyone who has put this story on their alert and favourite lists. A massive thank you to Forwoodx3, thesistersblack4998, VegaFLoyd, xxfallblossomsxx, MarissaRosee, henry and Shark9801 for reviewing the last chapter. Reviews make this author one very happy bunny and keep her motivated to write on – so do please review and let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling she's been too busy researching her family tree for a BBC programme to write fanfiction (and she wouldn't admit to owning this plot either).**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

_Slytherin Common Room_

Slightly stunned by the impact of Malfoy's body, Hermione just gaped up at him for a few seconds.

"Are you planning on staying on the floor forever or what?" Malfoy asked before holding his hand out.

Dazedly Hermione gripped his hand before he yanked her back onto her feet. She felt a fission of electricity run up her arm from his warm, strong hand. She quickly pulled her hand back. It must be disgust surely.

"You're welcome Granger," Malfoy sarcastically said and she flushed realising that she'd been so busy gawping at him like a fish out of water that she'd said nothing. Time to redeem the situation.

"Why thank you Malfoy for being such a big oaf and knocking me over," with that she pirouetted neatly out of the common room.

Draco glared at where she'd been before Blaise's guffaws hit him. "Shut up you idiot" he barked, "Where's she off to anyway?"

"She mentioned something about patrolling duty before bouncing off you."

"Well at least that should keep her out of trouble for tonight. I'm off to do my potions essay," Malfoy responded before running up to his room.

Five minutes later Daphne walked in on Zabini still snickering quietly. "What's got you so amused Blaise?"

"Oh I'm just thinking about how much fun these next few months are going to be. I think Draco's in for quite a shock." He said cryptically before following the same path Draco had just taken.

"Huh?" Daphne said to the empty sofa.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Hermione usually enjoyed patrolling with Padma Patil. Unlike her more flighty sister, Padma was very studious and similar to herself. However tonight she reminded her all too much of Parvati as she attempted to pump Hermione of all available information on the Slytherins including, much to Hermione's unease, who she found more attractive Zabini, Nott or Malfoy. I mean what kind of question was that to ask Hermione Granger?

"Personally, I have a thing for Nott. He may not be as flashy as Zabini or as sexily commanding as Malfoy but he has that real geek chic going on," Padma droned on

Hermione stifled her not so flattering laugh. Where did Padma come up with this? Since when did Malfoy become sexy and commanding? The guy was a git and not just an annoying git but a cowardly one at that. He hadn't exactly covered himself in glory during the past 7 years. When did his insane jealousy of Harry and his need to cling on to daddy's cloak become an attractive quality?

"So which one would you date if you could Hermione?"

Er hang on was she actually going to have to answer this? "Erm not really sure I'd want any of them. I guess if I was last girl on earth and they were the last three boys, I'd go for Zabini but yuck the thought of it makes me want to vomit."

"Oh I thought you would have gone for Malfoy. I mean he's totally your cup of tea," Padma said

What? Had someone confunded Padma whilst she was waiting for Hermione. "Really Padma? You think I'd go for someone who's spent the best part of our acquaintance calling me a mudblood?"

Padma seemed to ignore this inconvenient fact and spent the next two hours wittering on about how great Hermione and Malfoy would be together. You'd think Hermione had confessed her undying love for the ferret. Hermione thought she'd done well not to hex her. She was glad the corridors were empty because she wasn't sure she'd have lived down the rumours that would have spread had someone overheard Padma. The only benefit would have been the look on Malfoy's face when the gossip reached him but as that would have been at her expense Hermione mentally passed up on the opportunity of making the arrogant prat blush.

* * *

><p><em>A Week Later<em>

The next week passed peacefully for Hermione. She and Daphne got to know each other pretty well. She was constantly surprised by the Slytherin witch who could be as playful as Ginny Weasley. Definitely not something she'd imagined any pure blood in Slytherin could be.

Zabini was also becoming someone Hermione would chat to on a regular basis. He was often drawn to the two pretty witches and would spend the evening making them both giggle with his silly jokes and oversized ego. Thanks to the pair of them, Hermione was coming to view the Slytherin common room as a lot more friendly. She wasn't stupid, she still caught the hostile stares of the younger years but apart from one or two hissed mudbloods thrown her way, she had had no trouble.

The same couldn't be said of Malfoy. The man made her uneasy. He was always there in the periphery of her eye. She didn't understand why he always lurking near her. He hadn't said anything to her since knocking her over but hovered like some nightmare waiting to pounce. It was beginning to drive her insane.

Hermione had managed one or two study sessions with Harry, Ron and Ginny. It had been nice to catch up in the library. They were pleased she had found someone to hang out with amongst the Slytherins but were slightly weary whenever Daphne came over for a chat. This annoyed her somewhat as they were failing to see how much of an effort Daphne was making.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

Ten days into her new situation found Hermione back in the library with her Gryffindor friends.

"How's Parkinson getting on guys? I haven't seen her around much" Hermione asked

Harry shrugged, "She keeps herself to herself. She goes from her room to the Great Hall and from there to classes and that's it."

"Has she made any friends?"

Ron scoffed "Who'd want to befriend her? I mean like we'd all suddenly forget that she wanted to hand Harry over to Voldemort."

"So does anyone speak to her at all?"

"Erm I don't think so. I mean I've heard Lavender and Parvati say that every time they go to bed she's already asleep with her curtains pulled" Harry responded.

Hermione looked at Ginny who made a dissatisfied facial expression. "Don't look at me like that Hermione. I've tried to give out a few friendly vibes but she doesn't even look back."

"Why would you do that Ginny? Ugh just because the Pug is in our house _temporarily_ doesn't mean you have to be nice"

"Ronald Weasley I can't believe you. Parkinson is in exactly the same position I'm in and none of you have tried to make it a little easier for her. What kind of example are you setting for the lower years when Professor McGonagall has deliberately set this up to try and defuse the situation," Hermione lectured.

Harry shifted uneasily in his seat remembering a conversation from last week with McGonagall. She'd asked him to keep an eye on Pansy and to make sure no-one gave her any trouble. He'd shrugged it off at the time thinking McGonagall was going a bit far, I mean it's not like a Gryffindor would stoop as low as a Slytherin and harm Parkinson. But Hermione's lecture made him feel small. She was right, not one of them had made an effort with Parkinson whereas it appeared a couple of the Slytherins had actually welcomed Hermione into their house. It didn't feel right to feel less compassionate than a Slytherin.

"Heads up, Greengrass is on her way over and she's got Nott in tow," Ginny warned.

"Hey Hermione, you nearly finished? Theo and I are heading back to the common room. Fancy coming with us? Blaise has challenged Draco to a chess game and is so going to get his arse kicked."

Before Hermione could answer, Neville came running up. "Harry, Hermione there's been an accident in the common room and Parkinson's been hurt. She's in the infirmary."

**AN: Just a quick question. I've written the next few chapters and have included very little Weasley action. Not on purpose but purely because Ron and Ginny haven't really shouted at me to write them. Do you want me to actively include more of them? I have plans for Ginny but nothing really for Ron but can work out a role for him if you all wish me too.**

**Thank you all for reading and please do review (pretty please?).**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for all your reviews and alerts. You guys really are making this story a pleasure to write. The response to having more Weasley presence was split so I'm not going to try and invent a storyline especially for Ron. I do have plans for Ginny and I'm sure Ron will start to complain about being ignored soon and give me some inspiration for his character.**

**A massive thank you to: MarissaRosee, ThePowerOfTheTree, Tigerlilly98, PurplePrincess77, ****Porque ella estaba enamorada****, Shark9801, arbellagrace, ****La Chica De Ojos Azules****, xxfallblossoms, Thesistersblack4998, NicoleLovely and Forwoodx3 for your reviews.**

**Disclaimer: As you all know by now, I'm not JK Rowling but I am messing with her inventions in ways she probably wouldn't approve of.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

_The Library_

Hermione froze in her seat as bedlam broke out in the library. Neville was being crowded by Harry, Ron and Nott whilst Ginny and Daphne tried to push in. Hermione stood up and shouted in a voice that made her sound scarily like McGonagall, "Quiet please. Neville tell us exactly what you know."

"I don't know much but I returned to the common room after my weekly meeting with Professor McGonagall and Hannah. The scene was chaotic with people running around screaming. I pushed through the crowd and saw Parkinson collapsed in a pool of blood."

"What!" shrieked Daphne.

"I levitated her immediately to the infirmary and got Lavender to fetch Professor Sinistra who requested I come and find you Harry," Neville finished.

Hermione saw the shock she felt mirrored on everyone's faces. Daphne looked like she was going to pass out any minute. "Daphne lets go and see Madame Pomfrey and see how Pansy is."

Daphne nodded at Hermione and then turned to Nott, "Theo, go and get Draco right now. Tell him what's happened and that'll I meet him in the infirmary."

Hermione was confused as to why Daphne was demanding Malfoy come but now was not time to question the seeming necessity of the ferret's presence.

Hermione shared a panicked look with the three Gryffindor's before they sped off back to the Gryffindor common room. She followed Daphne out the door.

* * *

><p><em>The Infirmary <em>

The peace and quiet of the infirmary was a blessing compared to the frenzied atmosphere of the library just five minutes ago. Daphne seemed to relax a little when she saw the peaceful figure of Pansy under the sheet. Madam Pomfrey bustled over making frantic shushing noises.

"Please Madam Pomfrey tell us how Pansy is?" Daphne requested.

"She's under a sleeping draught right now but she was hit by a particularly nasty curse. I believe the same one that was used on you Mr Malfoy during your sixth year."

Hermione jumped and spun round. When had Malfoy got here?

"Is she going to be okay?" Malfoy asked his voice laced with worry.

"She's luckier than you were Mr Malfoy, the curse was much weaker and did minimal damage. There will be no scarring and after a day or so rest she should be back in classes. I've given her a blood replenishing potion."

Malfoy and Daphne walked over to Pansy and Hermione felt awkward, as if she was trespassing on an intimate moment. Daphne kissed Pansy's forehead "sleep well Pans, we'll be back tomorrow."

Malfoy didn't say anything just squeezed her hand briefly. Hermione turned to leave. "Where do you think you're going Granger?"

"Back to the common room if that is alright with you," she snapped back

"Well you can think again. You'll be staying here until Daphne and I are ready to leave."

Hermione felt her temper rising. How dare he speak to her like he was her father? Who was he to boss her about and tell her what to do?

"Excuse me? I think you have that wrong Malfoy. I'll leave whenever I damn well please and you can't do anything about it."

Malfoy gave her a withering look "We'll see about that. Now stop causing a scene and wait quietly."

For a whole five seconds Hermione was speechless. Malfoy smirked and turned his attention back to Pansy which enraged her further. "Just who the hell do you think yo u are –,"Hermione's diatribe was cut off by the arrival of McGonagall.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Greengrass, Miss Granger can anyone tell me what's happened? Professor Sinistra seemed rather distraught and unable to explain the situation."

Hermione seethed inwardly as Malfoy calmly filled McGonagall in. Who had died and made him King of Hogwarts? In fact don't answer that question. He'd tried to kill the best leader Hogwarts had seen in a long while. His assumed leadership in this incident was incensing her to the point that she was going to explode.

Draco was amused as he saw the enraged expression on Granger's face. He knew how much it was killing her to take a back seat role. She was the one used to controlling any situation and he'd ripped the rug out from under her. He'd particularly enjoyed ordering her not to move but he knew he had been saved a complete tongue lashing by McGonagall's entrance. Despite how entertaining it'd been to get Granger's goat, it was for her own safety. The story of Pansy ending up in the infirmary thanks to a Gryffindor was only going to inflame the Slytherins further. Granger would definitely be on the hit list for revenge.

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Common Room<em>

Upstairs in the Gryffindor common room, Harry was leading the post-mortem on what had happened. Sinistra was proving useless in this situation. So far he'd managed to clear the common room somewhat. He'd set Ginny the task of soothing the first and second years who were rather distraught. He'd rounded Ron, Dean and Seamus up and they were going round casually chatting to other years to see if they could glean any information. Neville was attempting to downplay the situation to the other houses. So far Hannah had her Hufflepuffs under control whilst the Ravenclaws were intrigued but not very interested. No-one had managed to gauge the Slytherin reaction and Harry was worried about Hermione's safety.

It took at least 2 hours to clear the common room of everyone. Harry was pissed off that they'd managed to find absolutely nothing out. It appeared that the common room was empty at the time which Harry found as frustrating as it was frankly unbelievable. Someone had to have seen something. He'd pin-pointed the fifth years as being particularly shifty. They'd seemed to leave Dennis Creevey to do all the talking and had looked uncomfortable.

Ron strolled over, "Sorry mate, we've tried all of our chummiest charm but so far no-one's saying anything."

Harry growled "I can't believe that we're being kept in the dark about this. I know those damn fifth years saw something but the little bastards are keeping stum."

"You heard anything from Hermione?"

"Nope but I'm going to go up to the infirmary to see Parkinson and then hopefully find Hermione to check on her."

"Okay, well let me know as soon as you can. I'll keep this place under control and keep on hunting that information down."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

Draco escorted Daphne and Granger back to the common room. Not that he doubted either witches' ability to get back safely but he knew his presence would lend an extra measure of security. Whilst not necessarily following his example in observing a cold truce with the Gryffindors, the younger Slytherins would never openly cross him.

Silence reigned in the common room as they came through the door. He actually felt the hostility towards Granger. She must have too as she imperceptibly moved closer to him. Draco glared around the room once, daring anyone to do anything. Several fourth years briefly tried to stare him down but soon lost their nerve.

"How's Pansy, Drake?" Blaise asked seemingly oblivious to the stand-off.

"She'll be fine. She's resting at the moment but Madam Pomfrey reckons she'll be back on her feet tomorrow no problem."

Theo came up, placing his arm around Daphne's shoulder, "you alright love?"

She nodded and rested her head on Theo's shoulder. Hermione looked around the small group of seventh years and saw the love and concern they all felt for Pansy. Who'd have thought Slytherins actually had a heart. She felt eyes boring into her and looked up to see Snape intensely staring at her. It was unnerving how much it felt like he could read her mind but she knew no portraits, despite how lifelike they were, could have their subjects' talents.

Feeling like she had already intruded too much into the grief of these Slytherins, Hermione quietly wished everyone a good night and went up to her dorm. She was aware of Malfoy following her every move. She shivered slightly.

"Severus, do me a favour – keep an eye on the lower years tonight. I know they're going to be itching to get revenge," Draco said. "I'm going back to the infirmary. Blaise, Theo, be the last ones out of this room tonight. Daphne, don't stay down here too long. I don't want anyone sneaking into your dorm to confront Granger," with that Draco left.

"He gets more and more bossy everyday. I believe Granger rubbing off on him. Next he's going to start checking our homework," Blaise remarked.

Daphne chuckled and gave both boys a kiss on the cheek. "I better go up before Draco comes back to see if we're all doing exactly as he's ordered. Unlike Hermione, I wouldn't put it past him to hex us for disobeying."

* * *

><p><em>The Infirmary<em>

Harry paused at the door of the infirmary; he peaked in and swore to himself. Shit Malfoy would bloody be here. He pushed open the door keen to get the confrontation over with.

"Malfoy how's Parkinson?"

The blond turned around, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Harry.

"Potter, what the hell is wrong with you?" he spat

"What? What have I done?"

"For a start it wasn't any curse that hit Pansy, it was the sectumsepra curse. Been going around teaching your Gryffindor army how to take out Slytherins? I'm sure McGonagall would be really proud."

Harry was now even more pissed with his house. How come no-one bothered to tell him this? Being on the back foot to Malfoy was never a pleasant experience. "No, you git, bringing armies into the Hogwarts to take out students is more your style."

Harry actually felt Malfoy bristle at this. He stalked towards Harry looking about as menacing as he'd ever been "Fuck off Potter. I don't see Slytherins being the ones stepping out of line. It seems to me that it's the Boy Wonder who can't keep his house under control."

Harry would never, ever admit this, not even on his death bed but he was actually afraid of Malfoy for the first time. He hadn't failed to notice that the blond had returned to Hogwarts far more of a man that he'd left the previous summer after the battle. Not only had he seemed to grow half a foot but he had a quiet menace about him that warned you not to push him too far.

"Are you going to answer my question or just use this time to get your frustration out?"

"She's fine no thanks to you. Pomfrey's given her a sleeping draught so her body can recover in peace."

As much as Harry hated to ask this, he had to "And Hermione?"

Malfoy snorted, "Don't worry; your precious princess is fine. She's in the common room with Blaise, Theo and Daphne babysitting her. Severus is also keeping to his Slytherin portrait tonight. Unlike you, I've put precautions in place to keep her safe. I had done even before Pansy was attacked."

Now Harry felt even more like crap. McGonagall had warned him and he'd done nothing. Whilst_ Malfoy_ of all peoplehad made sure Hermione was protected. Damn, he hated being out thought by a Slytherin but being one step behind the ferret was particularly galling.

Harry was knocked out of his reverie by suddenly being slammed up against the wall. Malfoy had his arm across his neck. Harry fought the desire to gulp and glared back at the pissed off Slytherin, "If Pansy is attacked once more Potter and I'm warning you, I'll be baying for your blood. I don't care if your injured protecting her personally, I'll come after you and you'll wish Voldemort had succeeded in killing you."

With that Malfoy slammed out of the infirmary leaving Harry massaging his throat.

**AN: Just to clarify, Harry isn't really scared of Draco. Afterall he did defeat Voldemort. But he knows he's in the wrong and he has a lot of guilt for not thinking about Pansy's safety more especially with the bad feelings that would remain towards her after the battle and ignoring McGonagall's advice. He's also annoyed that he's been shown up by Draco's strategy to protect Hermione.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: It's been suggested I get a beta for this story so if anyone out there is volunteering to clear up my lamentable grammar I'd be more than grateful.**

**Thanks so much for your continued amazing response. I can't believe this story has reached almost 50 reviews already with many more alerts. Please do continue to let me know what you think, it keeps me eager to write and update regularly. Special thanks to: Lauren Rees, Forwoodx3, SoulOfTheDarkMark, rhaevenSy, understar23, ForeverRose123, Gleek-043, TheEssenceOf-, invisiblesarah, xxfallblossomsxx, Shark9801, NinjaClarinetGirlBianca, nightshadeprincess567, echizenochi, XxBloodThornxX, NicoleLovely for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Still not JK Rowling **

**Chapter 6**

_The Infirmary_

Pansy woke to the door creaking open. She felt as if she'd been lying in one position for far too long and it took her body a moment to remember how to move. Then when she did it ached like hell. She looked around and realised she wasn't in her dorm room but appeared to be in the infirmary. She heard feet crossing the stone floor, looked up and gasped as she saw Potter coming towards her with a bunch of flowers.

"How you feel?"

"What happened?" Pansy croaked. Ugh, it felt like something had crawled down her throat and died. She reached across for the water only to pull back as she brushed Potters hand who'd done exactly the same thing.

He flushed as he passed her the water. He felt even guiltier as she looked at him with such suspicious eyes.

"What … erm …. do you remember?" Harry asked

"Not much, I was sitting by the fire doing my Charms essay. The common room was nice and empty and I thought a change of scenery would do me good."

Harry cringed at that "you were attacked. Someone hit you with the sectumsepra curse."

Pansy recoiled back from him remembering back to their sixth year when Potter had put Draco in hospital with exactly the same curse. She'd spent the next few weeks forcing him to take it easy despite his worsening temper and mental health.

Harry knew exactly what she was thinking of when he saw the fright flare in her eyes. "It wasn't me. I swore never to use that curse after I saw what it did to Malfoy."

Pansy had enough shame to blush "I knew it wasn't you unless of course you were sneaking into the infirmary to finish me off with a bunch of flowers."

Harry laughed and then looked embarrassed as he handed her the flowers. "I don't know what you favourites are so I went for pansies. Lame I know."

Pansy smiled touched by the gesture, "for future reference, my favourites are lilies although I'm hoping to steer clear of here for a while."

With a wave of his wand, Harry transfigured the flowers into a beautiful bouquet of stargazer lilies. Their fragrance filled the room instantly. Pansy shot a shy smile at him.

"Listen Potter, about last year…" but before Pansy could finish this sentence the door banged open.

"What the fuck are you doing here Potter?" Draco growled. To say he looked angry was an understatement. His eyes soften briefly as they took in Pansy's much healthier colour but he shot a scornful look at Harry when he spotted the flowers.

"I came to see how Pansy was," Harry calmly replied.

"Checking to see none of stupid, _murderous_ Gryffindors weren't going to end up in Azkaban?"

Harry rolled his eyes but before he could snap back at Malfoy, Pansy made a frantic shushing motion.

"What's this, Saint Potter has nothing to say? I thought you were meant to have a modicum of intelligence."

"Draco, be quiet and stop being such a git," Pansy commanded and then winced as her sharp tone sent a shooting pain through her aching head. Draco caught this and realised Pansy wasn't up to being in the middle of a confrontation.

"How is this fair? You end up attacked because he can't control his little band of Gryffindorks and _I'm_ the one being a git," Draco pouted.

Pansy smiled at the sulking boy; at least he was no longer looking like he wanted to kill Harry. "Aren't you a little old to be throwing a temper tantrum?"

Draco laughed at that, leant over and kissed Pansy's forehead. "How you feeling Pans?"

"Like I've been used for knife sharpening but otherwise fine. Either of you seen Madam Pomfrey? I want to know when I'm getting out of here"

"Not just yet young lady. You need to rest up for a little longer and maybe this evening if you do everything I say." Madam Pomfrey bustled over clutching yet another potion. "You should have a rather nasty headache by now so drink this."

She handed the vile smiling potion to Pansy who gagged as she forced it down her throat. "Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy you have both been here enough times to know that visiting times aren't until _after_ breakfast."

Both boys jumped up knowing not to mess with Madam Pomfrey when she took this tone. Outside the infirmary, Draco grabbed Potter's arm, "don't think a bunch of flowers makes up for what you allowed to happen. Stop wasting your time making puppy dog eyes at girls who are that far out of your league and go make sure she'll be safe when released."

Harry sighed at Malfoy's retreating back. He hated this new dynamic where he seemed to always be in the wrong and Malfoy in the right but he knew it was sound advice.

_The Slytherin Common Room_

Draco took advantage of the seventh years' free period and having the common room all to themselves to call a meeting. Daphne had left Granger in the library with Longbottom. They had an extremely complicated Transfiguration essay so they knew Granger would be busy for the foreseeable future.

Daphne had received worrying news from her sister Astoria, a fifth year, who had told her about a plot being hatched by her fellow Slytherin fifth years to hex Hermione in revenge. It appeared the fifth years had memorised Granger's patrolling schedule and thought she would be at her weakness with Padma Patile. They weren't wrong.

"So Draco, you sorted the patrolling problem?" Theo asked.

"Yep, I got to Longbottom this morning."

"But I didn't even find out about the plan until lunchtime," Daphne remarked.

Blaise laughed. "Seems like someone has forgotten about the Malfoy Factor," Blaise pointed out. Draco smirked.

Luckily, the Slytherin fifth years hadn't planned for what Blaise called the Malfoy Factor either. A seeming sixth sense all Malfoys possessed to uncover malicious plots hatched to harm the Malfoy family or their interests. Unfortunately for Draco, the bushy-haired bookworm had become one of his interests.

_McGonagall's Office_

Harry stood uncomfortably before McGonagall as she laid into him for the events last night.

"I can't believe you ignored by recommendations last week. I've never been so embarrassed. I had worried about placing Miss Granger in with the Slytherins expecting them to make an attempt to harm her. I thought I could count on my house to be the mature ones who'd do their utmost to put the past behind them and promote house unity. But instead you all isolated Miss Parkinson, continued the bad blood and you, Mr Potter, showed zero initiative in rectifying this problem.

McGonagall has been ranting in this fashion for the past fifteen minutes. She hadn't told Harry to take a seat and he hadn't dared to sit down uninvited. What was making this whole lot worse was the pure enjoyment Snape was getting from McGonagall's performance. Harry had never seen the sullen former professor so happy. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was looking at Harry as if he'd kicked his puppy. Harry was having a really shitty day.

"Now I fully expect you to rectify this situation at once and make sure Mr and Miss Weasley help. I will not have this kind of thing bringing shame on the Gryffindor house again."

Harry nodded his agreement, his mind already fully of ideas to make sure Pansy was physically safe for the rest of her stay with the Gryffindors.

"Oh and I suggest you speak to Mr Longbottom. I see that he has Miss Granger and Miss Patil patrolling for the remainder of the term. Whilst this would usually be satisfactory as both their wand work is excellent, both girls are very petite and it wouldn't take much strength to over power both of them. I should think that you would wish to swap and partner Miss Granger yourself."

For some reason this suggestion bought an even bigger smile to Snape's face. Ugh, it was creepy seeing him grin.

_The Infirmary_

Whilst Malfoy thought Hermione was tucked up safely in the library with the head boy to watch out for her, she had in fact gone to see Pansy. She had been really upset at what had happened to her Slytherin counterpart.

Pansy was sleeping when she entered. Hermione saw the massive bouquet of pink and white lilies. It seemed Pansy had a secret admirer. They weren't flowers you brought for a friend. She placed her box of chocolate frogs amongst all the other gifts littering the side table and sat down to wait for Pansy to wake up.

Hermione didn't have to wait long. She heard Pansy stir and put her book down. "Hey, I brought your homework for today," she said.

Pansy's eyebrows rose "Gee thanks Granger," she said sarcastically.

Hermione smiled at this, "I also brought you some chocolate frogs to make it more palatable."

Pansy opened one and popped it in her mouth. She chucked a fancy box of Honeyduke's finest chocolates at Hermione, "here take these. Drake always forgets I'm a low maintenance type of girl and prefer chocolate frogs over these."

Hermione chuckled at the idea of Pansy being low maintenance, "I know who is getting the better bargain here." She loved fancy chocolate.

Pansy shrugged, "it seems you Gryffindor's do guilt rather well."

"What do you mean?"

"Potter was here first thing this morning carrying that rather spectacular bouquet of lilies." Hermione's masked her shock. No need to tell Pansy that Harry was rather unimaginative in the gift department usually brining Hermione a box of his favourite, Bertie Botts' All Flavour Beans, than anything she'd actually want.

"Well actually," Pansy continued, "he came with a bunch of pansies which was pretty pathetic, okay so I'm called Pansy but it doesn't mean I want pansies all around me. But he transfigured them to this beautiful bouquet when I told him my favourites were lilies."

Hermione giggled. Should she tell Pansy that it appeared Harry was being a lot more thoughtful than usual? Suspiciously so. Yellow or orange lilies may say "sorry" or something similar but that big, romantic, fragrant pink and white bouquet screamed of deeper feelings. She decided to let Pansy figure that out by herself but she would have a word with Ginny. She couldn't play matchmaker from the Slytherin dungeon but Ginny would be more than happy to oblige.

Pansy broke into these thoughts, "I was surprised to see Potter actually."

"Why's that?" Hermione asked.

"Well you know … after last summer," Pansy's voice went quiet, "after what I said we should do with him."

Hermione thought back to battle and Pansy's panicked suggestion. She could see now that it had been panic rather than a desire to murder Harry. "You know Parkinson, Harry's not one to hold a grudge, well unless you count the one he has towards Malfoy. That was a really a stressful time for all of us and I think we all did things that we're not proud of."

Pansy scoffed, not unkindly, "not you or Weasley or Potter. You guys pretty much saved the wizarding world."

"One day, let me tell you about our year on the run. Believe me there are things all three of us said or did that were stupid and we wished we hadn't. We're just lucky that that we did them in front of each other rather than the whole of Hogwarts."

"You know I regretted it as soon as I said it. I was scared and I just wanted the war over. I know it was wrong especially because if the Dark Lord had won then things would have been so much worse even for us purebloods. I mean look at Draco and his family. The purest of all purebloods but that meant nothing to the Dark Lord, he punished them horribly and made Draco do terrible things under pain of torturing his family to death."

Hermione kept quiet at this. She wasn't sure if she would ever be ready to feel sorry for the Malfoys, especially that prat Draco.

"Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Pansy whispered.

For a minute Hermione thought she meant Malfoy but then realised Pansy was talking about Harry. She smiled "I think he's more worried right now that you won't forgive him for what happened yesterday. If I know Harry at all then he's currently beating himself up not doing more to stop you from getting hurt."

"It wasn't his fault. Besides I think he's getting more than enough grief from Draco." Hermione frowned, what did Pansy mean? Pansy saw this and added "as long as Draco isn't the one doing the beating for not thinking ahead like he did then I guess that's okay."

This confused Hermione further, "What has Malfoy been thinking ahead about?"

Pansy mentally slapped herself. Shit, she had a big mouth. None of them were to let on to Granger that he had put any precautions in place. "Oh you know what Draco's like," she said vaguely.

Hermione didn't know Malfoy at all well apart from the arrogant, pureblood supremacist side but she didn't exactly want to push Pansy on it. She was probably making mountain out of a molehill and Pansy had meant nothing.

"Well Parkinson, I'd better be going. I said I would meet Daphne ten minutes ago."

Pansy smiled, "thanks for coming by and bringing the frogs … oh and my homework of course," this was said with less enthusiasm, "and please call me Pansy. I've always hated my surname."

Hermione repeated what Daphne had said to her at her first Slytherin meal, "Only if you call me Hermione."

"Deal, Hermione" Pansy replied.

She gave Pansy a smile and a wave. Both girls were left with a feeling that they had reached an understanding and the beginnings of a friendship.

_The Gryffindor Common Room_

"Neville," Harry panted as he climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Oh sorry Harry, I had a meeting with Hannah."

"Look, it's about the patrolling schedule. I don't think it's a good idea to partner Hermione with Padma after what happened yesterday. They could easily get jumped by a large pissed off Slytherin.

"Don't worry about it Harry. Malfoy already came to see me about this, this morning. He asked, well demanded actually, that I switch him for Padma. I suggested partnering you with Hermione but he wouldn't allow it."

"What do you mean he wouldn't allow it? Who's the head boy, you or him?" Harry snapped.

"You know how he gets Harry," Neville replied, "he got all snarly and threatening."

"Good God Neville, you took on Voldemort when you thought I was dead and you couldn't handle Draco bloody Malfoy growling at you."

"I probably could if I had wanted to but he had a point. Look, I know Hermione would prefer patrolling you with but Malfoy is correct, if the Slytherins are out to get her, then she'd be a lot safer patrolling with him than you. And if there are Gryffindors who have a grudge against Parkinson then she is much safer patrolling with you," Neville reasoned.

Damn it, Malfoy had done it again. Out thought, out manoeuvred and out manipulated him once more. No wonder Snape had been so smug. He damn well knew it too.

Harry didn't dare acknowledge the tingly feeling he got at the thought of getting to patrol for the rest of the term with Pansy.

_The Prefects Room_

Hermione seemed to be perpetually running late for her patrols these days. She rushed into the Prefects room, "so sorry I'm late again Padma – oh!"

She stopped short when she saw it wasn't Padma waiting for her but someone infinitely taller, more muscled and blonder. Malfoy.

"About time too Granger. Come on then, I don't have all day. You might have nothing better than homework to do but my time is precious. After all I am a Malfoy."

Draco smirked as Hermione flounced out of the Prefects room. And yes, she'd definitely stamped her dainty foot in a hissy fit before doing so. It was so much fun riling Granger.

**AN: I know it's going slowly but I promise you that there will be substantial Dramione action, it's just taking a lot longer than I anticipated.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: This chapter has been the hardest far to write. I had some severe writers block mid-way through so please excuse it if it doesn't seem to flow very well. As always please let me know what you think – I particularly loved the Pansy/Harry love you all seemed to have from the last chapter.**

**Most of you had a negative reaction to my getting a beta so I thought I'd leave it for now but please if you do spot any grammatical mistakes then let me know, thanks.**

**Big thanks as always to my reviewers: iPawd17, WishingOnSomeStars, NicoleLovely, Shark9801, xxfallblossomsxx, VegaFLoyd, ForeverRose123, RachelSalvatore, Forwoodx3, echizenochi, XxBloodThornxX**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter et al belong solely to JK Rowling and sadly didn't come out of my imagination.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

_Hogwarts Corridors_

"So Granger, are you planning on talking to me at all? We have a couple of hours to kill and patrolling is boring enough as it is without having your partner sulk the entire time."

Hermione ground her teeth together. Malfoy was the most annoying, egoistical, insufferable git ever. She wouldn't be used as entertainment for him purely because he was bored doing his duty.

"By the way, where did you sneak off to this afternoon? Weren't you meant to be in the library? Daphne said you weren't there when she came to meet you."

There he went again, acting as if he was her father. What was it to him where she was? "What business is it of yours where I was Malfoy?" Hermione asked snootily.

"Just passing time Granger. Daphne was a little baffled and mentioned it to me."

"Well maybe she should mind her own business and not go around discussing my movements with nosy ferrets." Hermione snarled.

"Ooooh someone's touchy this evening. What's got your knickers in a twist Granger?"

Hermione ground her teeth again, this time audibly.

"Awww come on Granger, even a prudish bookworm like you should be flattered that someone as attractive and sexy as me is paying you such attention." Draco teased. He actually felt her temper go up a notch and was that her hair crackling with static anger? Man, she was so much more fun to patrol with than Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Just what is your problem Malfoy? First yesterday when you decided you get to tell me when I can leave your presence and now you think you have the right to question me on my whereabouts."

"Just making conversation Granger," Malfoy responded flippantly.

Something clicked in Hermione's head. She remembered the comment Pansy had let drop earlier about Malfoy beating up Harry for not doing as he was. Then there was the way Malfoy was so interested in what she was doing. He was almost behaving as if he was being protective over her. This wasn't Malfoy's usual behaviour towards her at all. If he wasn't insulting her, he was ignoring her as if she wasn't worth his time and effort. Something was going on and Hermione wasn't going to rest until she found out what it was.

"I went to see how Pansy was."

"Oh any reason you didn't tell Daphne that's where you were going? She was worried when you weren't in the library. She sent Theo off to track you down."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, now she was sure something was going on. She had been fifteen minutes late to meet Daphne. That wasn't particularly late but Daphne had started to panic and had sent Nott off to find her. Surely they weren't concerned that she couldn't defend herself from any revenge Slytherin attack, were they? And now she suddenly down to patrol with Malfoy for the remainder of the term.

"So Malfoy, how come I have the delightful pleasure of your company this evening? I thought I was down to patrol with Padma until the holidays."

"Yeah well you were but apparently Finch-Fletchley found my company too un-nerving and asked Longbottom to switch him," Draco smirked. He had no problem in sacrificing the sensibilities of that pompous git to fob Granger off.

Hermione would eat one of her knitted elves hats if that was true. Malfoy lied glibly enough but she knew Justin well enough to know that he took his prefect duties too seriously to bother the head boy to change his patrol partner. He'd look at it as if he was admitting a weakness in his ability to carry out his job. She decided that she wasn't going to get anything out of Malfoy voluntarily. She'd be better off working on his minions. Once she had some concrete information she could task him with it and make him admit what he was doing. Now who out of Daphne, Nott and Zabini should she start with?

* * *

><p><em>The Infirmary<em>

Draco waited for Madam Pomfrey to release Pansy. He wanted to give her a little pep talk before she went back to the Gryffindor tower. He wouldn't allow her to hide away as she had for the previous couple of weeks. She was going to go back with her head held high. "You ok sweetie?" He asked as she came out clutching a pot of ointment.

She looked pretty jittery so Draco put his arm around her shoulder, "you're going to be fine. Just call for me if anyone gives you grief ok?"

Pansy nodded her head fighting back the tears. Seriously, no-one could ask for a better friend than Draco, he always looked out for her. For all of them. Hermione was a lucky girl if she could just see what was in front of her face. "Don't panic Drake, I'll be fine. You just keep an eye on Hermione alright?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "No worrying about that, I've got both eyes on the bookworm." Pansy smothered a smile – Hermione was going be the envy of the Hogwarts with that intense gaze focused solely on her. Now how to make her realise it?

* * *

><p><em>The Slytherin Common Room<em>

Hermione slumped onto the sofa next to Zabini. "What's up Granger?"

"Oh just the usual, Malfoy being the world's most arrogant, annoying prat. But when is that something new?"

Blaise chuckled "What's he done now?"

"He gone and got Neville to change to the prefect patrolling rota so I'm stuck with him. I think he believes that I need him to protect me from the big, bad Slytherins as if I'm a defenceless squib. Then to make matters worse he insulted my intelligence too by trying to palm me off with some lie about Justin Finch-Fletchley being too scared to patrol with him." Hermione ranted

Blaise lifted his eyebrows. Well hell, Granger was onto Draco. This situation was about to provide him with so much more entertainment that previously promised but how to play it? It was obvious she was looking to pump him for information. For all her intelligence, Granger was not subtle in her pitiful attempts to manipulate him. She should know better than to think that she, a Gryffindor, could outmanoeuvre him, a Slytherin. No matter how good humoured, silly and idiotic Blaise could be at times, he was still pure Slytherin and that meant he knew the value of the front he portrayed and used it for his advantage. Now how much should he 'accidentally' let slip?

"You're just seeing a different side to Drake. Yes he can be a huge pain in the arse and none more so than to Gryffindors but when it comes to his friends, he's loyal and incredibly protective."

Huh? Was Zabini implying that Malfoy saw her as a friend? That made no sense. Sure, he hadn't called her a mudblood or any similar names since they'd returned to Hogwarts but she'd put that down to the fact that he knew McGonagall would kick him out of the castle if she caught any whiff of supremacist values. The Slytherin house had been under intense scrutiny from the first day of term and none more so than former Death Eater Malfoy.

Blaise saw the intense concentration on Granger's face as she digested his words. Yep, he'd got the ball rolling alright. Let the fireworks begin. "You're the best," he told himself with a mental high-five.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

By the end of the month, Hermione was sure that Malfoy was misguidedly 'protecting' her. No longer content to remain in the shadows behind her, he was actively involving himself in every aspect of her life. Patrolling was now a battle of wits and he made sure he was seen to be 'friendly' to her in the common room. She was also sure that he'd brow-beaten Slughorn into partnering them in Potions and more disturbingly McGonagall seemed to think this wise, assigning them class seats for the rest of term. Hers, of course, was next to Malfoy with Theo Nott and Harry behind. It seemed the whole of Hogwarts was on tenterhooks expecting her to be attacked any minute. She'd find this amusing if she wasn't so infuriated by everyone assuming that she was a damsel in distress who needed a knight in shining green and silver armour to protect her. In fact the only fun she was getting was plotting Harry's demise with Ginny.

"So how's the match-making going?" Hermione asked Ginny as she pulled out the seat opposite.

"So far so good, I've been throwing them together in the common room. Harry's gone into uber-protective alpha male mode and I've made sure Ron's out of the way by setting him up with Susan Bones. They have their first date this Friday"

Hermione giggled, "Now I'm pretty glad I've been exiled to the dungeons. Ron in lust is not a pretty sight"

"Speaking of dungeons, where's your tall, blond, annoying but oh-so-handsome bodyguard?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "He's currently playing dictator on the Quidditch pitch but has _so kindly_ left me his minions," Hermione said the last part rather loudly and pointedly glared at Theo and Blaise at the next table. Theo didn't bother raising his head from his charms essay whilst Blaise just shot her one of his annoying smirks.

Hermione shock her head in mock-exasperation but smiled. Those bloody Slytherins were just too charming when they put their mind to it. Hermione settled down to her never ending list of homework.

Ginny waited until Hermione headed out of the library with Nott in tow. She's managed to convey to Zabini that she wanted him to say behind.

"What's up Weaslette?"

"I need a partner in crime for a little project I've got going called Operation House Unity"

"Yeah, I overheard your conversation about Potter and Pansy. You may be running into a little trouble with a certain Malfoy over that. She's the sister he never had and well Potter, he's the Boy-Draco-Wished-Would-Die," Zabini cautioned

Ginny gave a Slytherin style smirk "Oh leave _Draco_ to me. I have plans for that boy which involves a certain bossy brainiac. You see Hermione believes we're working on setting Harry and Pansy up whilst Pansy believes we're working on setting Hermione and Malfoy up. Me, I'm planning on spectacularly trumping McGonagall's attempts at house unity by playing cupid hence the need for your help."

Blaise nodded in approval "Anything that is going to provide me with entertainment is well worth helping out. I suggest you work on the easier pairing. If I've interpreted Pansy's flustered blushes whenever Potter is around correctly then she's already half-way in love with Scarhead. And we all know Potter is in way over his head from the ridiculous bunch of flowers he gave her." Ugh, when Blaise had seen the monstrosity on Pansy's bedside table he'd wanted to vomit. Could anything have more sappy and Gryffindor?

Ginny digested this, "but if we only concentrate on them then Malfoy won't be distracted and will want to meddle. Considering you literally just warned me about that a minute ago what's changed your mind?"

Blaise just shock his head sadly "you Gryffindors have no sense of manipulation. It's sad really," Ginny growled at him and he continued hurriedly before he was on the wrong end of one her famous hexes. "You need to use Malfoy's predictable rage towards Potter daring to touch Pansy to your advantage because if I know Granger she'll be unable to not get involved."

"I'll think about it," Ginny wasn't keen on showing how much potential this plan had. Zabini's ego needed no further inflation.

Blaise scooted closer to the redhead, "so any other pairing for Operation House Unity caught your eye?" Ginny just shot him a cheeky smile and left the library. Blaise leaned back in his chair and grinned.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Harry was beginning to look forward to patrolling duty more than anything else, even Quidditch. He'd never imagined that a Slytherin girl could be so sweet let alone Pansy Parkinson but once you got past that hard exterior she was adorable.

"It all seems quiet; shall we make our way back to the common room?" Pansy asked.

Harry's heart began to speed up. He'd decided to make his move tonight but had been putting it off all evening afraid that she would blow him off. "Er, one minute Pansy,"

She turned and quirked an eyebrow. "Well, er, you know this weekend is a Hogsmeade trip right?"

Pansy inwardly smiled. For someone who had taken down the darkest wizard ever, Harry really was rubbish around girls. She was used to Draco and Blaise, boys who had too much confidence for their own good. She found the unsure quality of Harry so appealing. "Yeah, it's on Sunday right? Why do you need help organising the Gryffindor third years?" Just because she thought his awkwardness was cute, didn't mean she was going to help him out. She'd make him work for her.

Great, Harry thought, now she thinks I just want her help. Shit, why am I so rubbish at this? "That wasn't quite what I meant. I-was-wondering-if-you-wanted-to-go-with-me?" He asked in a big rush.

"What? Sorry Harry can you repeat that please?"

Harry mentally banged his head against the wall. What was wrong with him? He was channelling the fourth year version of himself that could barely talk to a girl other than Hermione. He took a deep breathe and dove in "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me, you know, like a date."

"Ohhhh," Pansy took pity on the blushing Gryffindor, "yeah sure, I'd love that." She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss and took his hand. Harry going even redder, smiled in relief, squeezed her hand and they walked back to the common room leaving a sniggering picture of 17th century wizards shaking their heads behind.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

Saturday dawned clear and cold. Perfect conditions for Quidditch. Pansy tracked Hermione down in the library. Pulling the book from her grasp, Pansy ignored Hermione's attempts to wrestle the book back. Dangling the arthimancy tome like a carrot above the shorter girl's head Pansy was able to lure Hermione out of the library.

"Can you please explain why you have stolen my book and the reason better be good," Hermione demanded in a cross tone.

"Only if you can explain why you are in the library instead of making your way down to the Quidditch pitch?" Pansy countered.

Hermione looked confused "why would I be going to the Quidditch pitch? Harry, Ron and Ginny aren't playing today."

Pansy rolled her eyes. How could someone so intelligent be so dense? "Gryffindor might not be playing but it is Slytherin's first match of the season and you might want to be seen supporting them considering they are meant to be your house team." With that Pansy grabbed her hand and yanked her down to the stadium. Hermione groaned, she hated Quidditch and only ever went to watch her friends play.

When they arrived at the Slytherin stand, Pansy whipped out a massive green and silver scarf and proceeded to wind it around Hermione's neck, half smothering her in the process. "Really Pansy, is this necessary or is it a Slytherin ploy to strangle me with one of your scarves?"

Pansy didn't bother responding and slapped Hermione's hand away when she tried to remove it. "Just do as you're told and go and support your house no matter how temporary," with that Pansy shoved her up the stairs to the seats. "More importantly go and support Draco who is going to have a heart-attack when he sees you in that particular scarf," she said to the empty space where Hermione had been. Pansy grinned as she pulled another scarf out of her pocket. Time to show Harry how good this Slytherin looked in red and gold.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Quidditch Stand<em>

Hermione wound her way to where she could see Daphne, Blaise and Theo in the front row. She ignored the incredulous stares as other Slytherin's noticed her attire. She refused to be embarrassed by Pansy's stunt. Plus it helped that she couldn't really move her head to gauge the full reaction but she could hear the whispers. Daphne turned around and waved her over, "hey Hermione, I saved you a seat."

Theo looked around and choked when he saw what Hermione was wearing. "Don't look at me like that Theo, Pansy got hold of me, dragged me down here and then tried to strangle me with this monstrosity of a scarf. Why the hell is it so big?"

Blaise grinned "Slytherin tradition," he said cryptically.

Daphne rescued Hermione by loosening the scarf and rearranging it so Hermione could move her head and breathe. Hermione turned around and spotted Pansy in her usual place in the Gryffindor stands sitting between Harry and Ginny. The two girls had their heads together which didn't bode well. They caught Hermione's eye and Ginny waved cheerily whilst Pansy stuck her thumbs up. The crowd's attention turned to the commentary box as Luna Lovegood began to announce the teams.

* * *

><p><em>Quidditch Pitch<em>

Draco led his team out onto the pitch. He loved the first game of the season. He'd spent the last month training his team hard and felt that they had the best chance yet of winning the Quidditch Cup since he'd come to Hogwarts. The Slytherin team was a lot more balanced this year. He'd gone against the tradition started by Flint to pick the biggest bruisers and instead had settled for a team of fast, swift chasers and two beaters who could actually follow tactics. He shook Anthony Goldstein's hand and Madam Hooch let the balls loose.

Draco kicked off and started to sweep the pitch looking for the golden snitch. As he swooped past the Slytherin stand, Blaise waved to get his attention. He looked at his friend and saw him pointing to Granger. Draco nearly fell off his broom when he saw what she was wearing. Why the hell was she wearing his scarf? He didn't need to search far as he took in Blaise's smug face. Draco growled. He'd deal with him later first he had a Quidditch match to win.

As he turned his attention to the game he couldn't help but think how gorgeous Granger looked in green. The fact that it was _his_ green scarf was even more of a turn-on.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

The Slytherin common room was triumphant that night. They'd beaten Ravenclaw 230-60 with Draco catching the snitch spectacularly in front of the Ravenclaw's seekers nose. With the party looking set to go on all night, Hermione was dozing in front of the fire. She kept trying to sneak off up to bed but every time she was caught by either Blaise or Daphne and dragged back down. She leant against the cushions, propping her feet up on the coffee table and closed her eyes. She was sure her bodyguards would wake her when they were ready to go to bed.

Draco tore his eyes away from the sleeping girl. She had most adorable little pout when she slept. He shook his head, stop it Draco, its Granger for goodness sake. The common room was beginning to empty. Slughorn had come in and shouted at them all to get some sleep. He'd managed to scare the lower years off into bed and the glares Draco gave the older years made sure they followed suit not much later. "So which one of you is going to tell me what's going on?"

Daphne and Theo pretended to be engrossed in each other leaving Blaise the only one without any cover. He slumped into the armchair, leaving only the space next to the slumbering Hermione free. Draco sat down and stared Blaise out. There was no way the sneaky Slytherin was not explaining his actions.

"Don't give me that creepy Death Eater look Draco. It was all Pansy's idea. Go and freak her out."

Draco's stare got even more disdainful, "well considering Pansy doesn't have the password to the common room anymore and my belongings haven't been rummaged through, I take it she had inside help – annoying Italian inside help," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, well what can I say now I'm busted? Guilty as charged. Pansy apparently told the Weaselette about the giant scarf that is made especially for each new Quidditch captain. They put their evil little heads together and decided it would be amusing if they got Granger to wear it for the first game of the season."

Draco groaned, "I take it Pansy left out the bit about it only getting worn by a member of the opposite sex if said captain was staking a public claim on that person."

Blaise gave what Draco considered to be a very girly giggle. "Nope but apparently the She-Weasel made some disparaging comment about the size of the scarf making up for a lack of size in …er… certain areas."

Theo pulled his lips off Daphne long enough to guffaw. It was a shame Draco currently needed the two idiots to babysit Granger because if he hadn't he was pretty sure they'd have both ended up in the infirmary with some very nasty hexes.

"Stellar job guys," Draco applauded, clapping sarcastically, "now the whole of Slytherin house thinks I'm dating Granger which is going to make her even more of a target for some dickhead wanting to steal my crown and prove how loyal they are to the old regime."

He saw Blaise's face fall. If he wasn't so mad at him then he'd probably feel a little sorry for the prat. "Next time leave the plotting to me. You suck at it."

Draco left for his dorm room. Blaise looked at Theo, "fuck, why didn't I think of that?"

"Because, Mr Zabini, you are a dunderhead," Snape chipped in.

**AN: I've been so excited so far by your reactions that I've been writing this story at speed and posting every day because I've become addicted to my blackberry letting me know about reviews, alerts etc but the next few days are going to be insanely busy for me so I may not be able to update everyday. The spare time I have will most likely be dedicated to writing the next chapters.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: So this chapter didn't go as planned but I hope you enjoy anyway.**

**Thanks to you all for continuing to review, alert and favourite this story. You all keep me motivated to keep going even when I get completely stuck.**

**Disclaimer: Unless I've woken up in one of those fan-fiction storylines where I've magically swapped bodies, I'm still not JK Rowling.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

_Slytherin Dungeon_

Draco woke up the next morning in a stinking mood. He was surrounded by idiots that looked to make his job even harder. He stalked through the common room and nearly annihilated a stupid third year who thought he'd test his bravado and call Draco a blood traitor. Instead he hit him with a very nasty stinging hex that would leave him sore for days to come. Word got round pretty quickly not to test Malfoy after that.

Draco decided it was time to pay Pansy a visit. It seemed her prolonged stay amongst Gryffindors had turned her into a meddling fool.

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Tower<em>

Pansy gulped when she saw the enraged blond leaning against the wall outside the Gryffindor common room. He looked like a gorgeous, vengeful Greek god who was making the Gryffindor girls giggle and batter their eyelashes at him. Pansy knew this was only going to make his temper worse. Draco had no patience for silly schoolgirls. Unfortunately for Draco, the angrier he got, the more brooding and dangerous he looked and the more the girls giggled and flirted. Pansy knew she'd have to step in quickly before he took his hot temper out on one of the stupid girls.

"Morning Draco," she bravely said

He grunted in return, grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a nearby empty classroom. He placed a silencing charm on the room and Pansy knew she was in for it.

"What the hell are you playing at Pansy?"

"Nothing Draco, it was just a cute little prank and you have to admit Hermione looked fantastic in your scarf."

"This has nothing, NOTHING to do with how Granger looked Pansy. Have you lost your mind? Have you any idea of the shit storm you've caused in Slytherin? I thought you didn't want anything to happen to Granger?" Draco shouted.

Pansy paled. She had been so focused on making Draco see Hermione in a different light that she hadn't thought about the reaction of the rest of the house. She just wanted Draco to have a little of the happiness she currently felt with Harry and she knew that Hermione was the only girl in Hogwarts who could give it to him.

"Oh no, I wasn't thinking. Draco, she'll be okay won't she?"

Draco raked his hand through his hair. He was so frustrated that Pansy and Blaise had been so short-sighted. The Weaslette he could understand, she wasn't a Slytherin so would never understand the gravity of a Malfoy being seen to date a muggle-born.

"You and Blaise have made my job a whole lot harder but I'm determined to not let anything happen to her. I'll just have to stick to her like glue and hope that my reputation in the house continues to hold. I've already had some snotty little kid try and call me a blood traitor this morning."

Pansy sniffled "I'm so sorry Draco, I just didn't think. I just wanted you to be happy and I know that Hermione could make you so happy."

Draco sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose, "how about you let me organise my love-life ok Pansy?"

She nodded and hugged him, "is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not much, no but enough with the matchmaking Pansy, I am big enough to make my own moves if and when I want to."

Pansy nodded and smiled. She'd back off but she hadn't missed the 'when' in Draco's statement. At least he had noticed Hermione. She also knew she'd gotten off lightly. Lucky for her Draco viewed her like his sister which meant she could get away with things no one else would dare.

* * *

><p><em>The Great Hall<em>

Hermione was confused this morning. The hostility towards her in the Slytherin house was particularly virulent today. She also noticed how on edge Blaise, Daphne and Theo were. They weren't doing too well on hiding their tension and were pretty much flanking her. She looked at Malfoy a few seats down. He was seemingly relaxed, smiling and joking with Harper but she noticed the stiff set of his shoulders and the way his eyes darted around the table. What was going on? Hermione decided Daphne would be the best option to wheedle information out of.

"Hey Daphne, can we go somewhere to talk?" Hermione called as they finished up.

If Hermione wasn't paying minute attention to everything, she would have missed the brief look Daphne gave to Malfoy who nodded ever so slightly in return.

"Sure Hermione, fancy going to the library? It's Sunday so we know it'll be nice and empty."

Draco watched them leave and decided to give them five minutes before following. No need to make Granger aware of the shifting Slytherin dynamic just yet surely.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

Hermione and Daphne went to a secluded area of the library. "Ok Daphne, what's going on?"

Hermione didn't buy the puzzled look Daphne was attempting to pull off, "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Don't give me that innocent spiel Daphne, something's going on. All of you are on edge in a way that you weren't yesterday and the hostility levels towards me are up considerably I think I have a right to know."

Daphne spluttered looking around for an escape route. She looked behind Hermione's shoulder and sighed in relief.

"Don't worry Daphne, I'll explain to Granger what's happening," Malfoy's voice came from behind Hermione.

She spun and looked up at the Slytherin, "well I'm glad someone is planning on giving me answers because I'm getting really tired of being kept in the dark."

Draco smiled, patted Daphne on the shoulder as she made good her escape. "So what do you want to know?"

"Everything," was Granger's curt response. He didn't expect anything else.

"It seems Pansy and your little red-headed friend decided to entertain themselves at our expense. The scarf you were wearing yesterday is made especially for the Slytherin Quidditch captain and if anyone from the opposite sex wears it to a game then it means they have been publicly claimed by the captain." Draco stated factually.

Hermione gasped and then saw red, "Oh just wait until I get my hands on those girls. How dare they even think to play games with me like that. I'll bloody kill them." Hermione paced up and down angrily twisted her hands as if she was already strangling Ginny and Pansy.

Draco sat down on one of the tables and enjoyed the show. Granger was beautiful when she was being so feisty. Hang on, what? Damn it, did that mean what he thought it did. Had he gone and fallen for Gryffindor's golden girl? When did that happen? Draco couldn't pin point it at all but he'd always enjoyed seeing her so riled up. Her hair got a life of its own, her eyes flashed sparks and she got a delicate flush in her cheeks. Maybe this was why he'd always been such an arse to her.

Hermione stopped her monologue of what she was planning on doing to the meddlesome girls to rant about something else. "Seriously Malfoy, claimed? Who uses terms like that? I'm not a possession."

Draco allowed himself a smile, "What can I say? Slytherin traditions aren't au fait with the more modern ideas of partnership and equality." He winked at her.

Hermione mildly scoffed, "yeah I guess I am expecting too much from you Slytherins." She liked this smiling, teasing version of Malfoy but she wasn't letting him off the hook just yet especially as his story didn't cover all the bases. Why had the Slytherin house been so tense today? "Malfoy, why are you and your minions so tense if the scarf was just a prank. I mean you guys have been on tenterhooks all morning as if expecting an attack."

Bugger, Draco said to himself, she couldn't just accept the easy explanation like most people. "Let us just say that there are many Slytherins, usually those too young to comprehend what happened in the war, who cling to the old ways. The thought of a Malfoy publicly claiming a muggle born as his girl, albeit the famous Hermione Granger, is too much for them to swallow. They aren't happy and they are looking for ways to express this. In fact most of the lower years haven't been happy about you even stepping foot in the Slytherin dungeon."

Hermione knew she was getting the truth out of Malfoy, "so I take it this hostility is why you've stuck bodyguards to me since I arrived in the dungeons."

Malfoy nodded, "as soon as McGonagall laid out her plan, I knew that if we didn't watch out for you then you could be seriously hurt. I asked Daphne to befriend you and made sure that Blaise, Theo or I would always be around to make sure you were ok."

Hermione felt a stab of hurt. So Daphne hadn't actually wanted to be her friend. She'd also started to view Blaise and Theo as friends as well. Blaise made her giggle and Theo made a very good study partner. "Oh! Well you know it was unnecessary right? I can look after myself perfectly well."

Draco didn't miss the hurt in Hermione's eyes as he told her his plan. He hadn't meant to hurt the girl but he'd known that it was time to tell her the truth. "Granger, you are at your most vulnerable whilst you are a member of Slytherin. Look what happened to Pansy and you know your Gryffindors are teddy bears compared to a bunch of pissed off, malicious Slytherins. I couldn't allow anything to happen to you. It wasn't that I don't trust your defensive abilities but that you wouldn't have been prepared."

Hermione acknowledged the truth of that. It didn't stop it from stinging that her new Slytherin friends had only become so because they felt it necessary to protect her rather than because they liked her. She went to leave the library, hesitated and then turned back to the blond, "thanks Malfoy. I do appreciate it." Smiled at him and left.

_Gryffindor Common Room_

Pansy met Harry in the common room for their date. Harry swallowed when he saw her. She looked gorgeous and he knew he was the luckiest man in Hogwarts. He took her hand and kissed her cheek, "I still can't believe you said yes."

Pansy giggled, "I took pity on you Harry because lets face it you suck at asking girls out."

He blushed but smiled, "hey if pity means you said yes then I'm not complaining."

"Come on you two lovebirds, get moving," Ginny called. Ron rolled his eyes. He had been shocked that Harry would forgive Pansy for wanting to hand him over to Voldemort but if his best friend was happy then he was more than happy to let the past stay in the past. Besides he was more concerned with his own budding romance with Susan Bones.

Harry put his hand on Pansy's back as they walked to the portrait hole. "By the way Pansy, where did you disappear to this morning? I heard rumours that an angry ferret was waiting outside the common room for you."

Pansy smacked him for calling Draco a ferret, "Draco just wanted a word."

"Did you tell him about us?"

"Do you still own all your limbs?"

"Pansy, you have to tell him at some point. If Malfoy loves you as much as you say he does then he'll accept it even if he isn't happy about it," Harry said.

"I know, I know but he was already upset with me and I didn't want to make it worse."

"He's going to have to know at some point and he'll have to deal with it."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't like him but Harry, he's been a part of my life since we were toddlers. He's always looked out for me and I can't bear the thought of losing that."

Harry stopped Pansy and pulled her into his arms, "hey don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine with it and if not I'll hex him until he is." Pansy gave a wobbly smile. "But we'll tell him about us when you're ready ok?"

Pansy beamed up at Harry. He couldn't resist that adorable smile and had to lean down to kiss her. She pushed herself up on her tip-toes, put her arms around his neck and pulled Harry in closer. She moaned as he deepened the kiss.

"Bloody hell, can you two get a room? It's disgusting watching the pair of you eat each other," Ron whined.

Harry and Pansy pulled apart reluctantly, "you're one to talk _Won-Won_. I remember the public displays of extreme kissing you and Lavender used to indulge in."

Pansy butted in before this turned into one of their epic squabbles, "where did Ginny go?"

* * *

><p><em>Castle Entrance<em>

Ginny bounded down to the entrance of Hogwarts waiting for Ron, Harry and Pansy. She was grabbed and pulled into a corner before she could get there

"Zabini, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Letting you know that your little operation is off."

"What? Why?"

"Well unless Pansy didn't immediately come and tell you after Draco chewed her out which I find hard to believe, our stunt with the scarf backfired spectacularly. Draco almost put me in the infirmary and we have put Hermione in danger."

Ginny pouted, "Okay I get that we have to back off for a while but no way do I accept that Operation House Unity is over. Just make sure you do your homework better next time. I firmly put the blame on your shoulders for this."

"Hang on, why is everyone blaming me? I only got the scarf; you and Pansy came up with the actual plan." Blaise huffed

"Yeah but you should have known what would happen that's why I keep you around."

"I thought it was because I brought the good looks and debonair aura to this party."

Ginny whacked Blaise on the arm but giggled at him. There was no denying the boy was handsome and charming.

"So are you going to meet me later, just the two of us?" Blaise asked

Before Ginny could answer, Ron grabbed her arm and swung her around, "What the hell do you think you're doing with that snake Ginny?"

"Just chatting Ron but what's it to you?"

"I'm your big brother and I don't approve. Zabini has a bad reputation only bettered by that git Malfoy."

Blaise rolled his eyes and said snarkily "At least we can get a girl, Weasel"

Ron turned a brilliant shade of red but before he could explode, Ginny said "Look Ron, there's Susan. Oh doesn't she look pretty," and pulled Ron away with a grimace to Blaise. He smirked evilly at her. Just because he wanted her didn't mean he was going to put up with moronic brother.

**AN: Sorry, I know many of you are really looking forward to the Hogsmeade chapter and this turned out to be a filler but it was necessary for me to write in order to get to Hogsmeade which I promise you is next! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Ok, I'm really not very happy with how this chapter has turned out but no matter how long I stare at it, no better inspiration is coming so I'm posting it and moving on. Action is obviously not my forte.**

**Thank you all for your continuing alerts, favourites and reviews. I can't believe I have over 100 alerts and am also closing in on 100 reviews. You guys are awesome.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

_Hogsmeade_

Hermione was doing her best to enjoy Hogsmeade with Daphne, Theo and Blaise but she couldn't shake off the fact that they were only spending their day with her because Malfoy had made them. Hermione had been thrilled when she had clicked so quickly with the trio of Slytherins. She didn't make friends easily and although she now had a wide circle of friends, they were all people who had had contact with her over years and so had got used to her uptight ways. She had felt her confidence soar when she'd made these friends in a couple of weeks.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Daphne asked, well aware of how quiet the curly haired girl was being.

"Nothing, oh, I think I just saw Ginny going into Honeydukes. Do you mind if I spend some time with her? I feel like it's been ages."

Daphne smiled "Yeah sure Hermione, we're not your keepers you know."

"Great Granger, just leave me to be a very unwelcome third wheel with these two love birds." Blaise said.

"Meet us in the Three Broomsticks," Theo called

"Yeah and bring the Weaslette along. I could do with some entertainment," Blaise added.

Hermione ducked into Honeydukes and waited until the Slytherins had passed. She hadn't really seen Ginny but she just needed some time on her own. She headed up the Shrieking Shack glad to be by herself for once.

* * *

><p><em>The Three Broomsticks<em>

Draco walked into the Three Broomsticks where he'd arranged to meet Daphne, Theo and Blaise. He saw them sitting in one of the corners and moved his way through the crowds to get to them.

"Hey, how long have you lot been here?" Draco asked

"About 20 minutes. We're waiting for Hermione. She saw the little Weasley in Honeydukes and said she'd catch up with us." Theo said

"Really? I just bumped into the Weaslette a minute ago and she didn't have Granger in tow. You sure she didn't mean the moronic Weasley?"

"No, she definitely said Ginny," Daphne said with a worried look on her face. "Draco, she's been weird all day so quiet and just kind of tagging along at the back."

Draco groaned as he recognised the problem at once. He shouldn't have told her that he'd organised for the Slytherins to be her friends. He should have known she'd go and get all Gryffindor about her feelings. Typical bloody Granger, to go running off all by herself just when she was most at risk. "Ok, we'll have to fan out. Theo and Daphne take the high street back towards Hogsmeade. Blaise and I will head towards the Shrieking Shack. Send out your patronus if you find her."

Draco rushed out of the pub with Blaise on his heels. He couldn't shake the bad feeling he had. "You start checking down here, I'll run up the shack and start from that way," he commanded Blaise.

The inhabitants of Hogsmeade were treated to the sight of the usually suave young Malfoy dashing up the street in a hurry. The hideous scenarios of what could be happening to Hermione were flashing through his brain. As he neared the shack, he could hear a commotion. Shit, she was being attacked. He sped up in the direction of the noise and his heart stopped when he saw her cornered against trees with a group of hulking Slytherin fourth years closing in led by Malcolm Baddock. All he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears as he tried to get to her in time.

* * *

><p><em>The Shrieking Shack<em>

Hermione couldn't believe how stupid she'd been in ignoring Malfoy's warning this morning. It wasn't that she hadn't taken it seriously that she'd gone off alone. She knew that for Malfoy to organise his fellow Slytherin seventh years the way he had meant that the threat he spoke of was real. She'd just been feeling so miserable and she'd wanted some time alone to think through some things. She'd been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard the group of boys approaching.

"Well well well, if it isn't Malfoy's Mudblood," the leader of them, Baddock sneered at her to the chuckles of his goons behind. "Where's loverboy? Or has he climbed out of the gutter now that he's got what he came for? I hear that's all you mudbloods are good for anyway."

Hermione looked down her nose at him. She'd faced Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters, these pathetic little boys had nothing on them. She discretely put her hand on her wand, mentally preparing for the fight that was coming. "Please, like I'd want to touch one of your precious purebloods," she sneered back.

The group of boys were continuing to circle in on her. Great, she was going to hex fast to get out of this situation. Before she could move her wand out, she was grabbed by Baddock and pushed up against a tree before he forcibly removed her wand. "Tut tut mudblood, we thought we'd settle this the muggle way." His hand squeezed her throat unpleasantly making her see black dots.

Before he could do any real damage, one of the thugs went down, stupefied, revealing Malfoy behind him. Hermione hadn't felt this much relief since Harry had turned out to be alive in the Great Battle. Baddock swore dropping Hermione on the floor turning with his and her wands outstretched in either hand.

The younger Slytherins weren't taken off guard for too long and no matter how talented Malfoy was, he was outnumbered by three to one. He was fighting them off valiantly and Hermione rose shakily to her feet trying to see how she could influence the battle best without her wand. She swore as she saw Malfoy go down, hit by a stupify and a petrificus totalus. She jumped on the nearest guy's back, looking to scratch his eyes out to incapacitate him. She found herself being yanked off the goon's back and shoved to the ground. She looked past the remaining two boys and sighed when she saw aid coming in the shape of Blaise and Ginny.

The Slytherin-Gryffindor duo made short work of the younger boys. Hermione jumped up and ran over to Malfoy "Draco, can you hear me? Come on wake up." she called frantically whilst shaking his shoulders. He wasn't stirring even with the use of rennervate and had some nasty looking curses covering him.

"Hermione, come on we need to get him back to the infirmary." Ginny pulled her away.

Blaise went to levitate him back down to Hogsmeade but Hermione pulled him towards the Shrieking Shack. "No, this way is quicker and besides Malfoy would never forgive you if you floated him through the village looking like this."

The walk through the secret tunnel felt excruciatingly long to all three of them but finally they were in the grounds at Hogwarts.

"Ginny, run up to the infirmary and let Madam Pomfrey know we're coming," Blaise ordered. It showed how worried Ginny was that she followed this order without complaining or insisting on a please.

* * *

><p><em>Hogsmeade<em>

Daphne and Theo were frantically searching the village for any sign of Hermione when they got Blaise's patronus telling them that they needed to get themselves back to Hogwarts and to bring Pansy with them. They found her huddled over a table in Madam Puddifoot's and with nothing but a disgusted look at her hand entwined with Harry's, they dragged her outside.

"Er you better have a good excuse for dragging me out here. Can you not see that Harry and I are on a date?"

"Sorry to interrupt your smooching time with Potter but we lost Hermione, split up to find her and now we've received Blaise's patronus telling us to come back to the castle." Theo drawled sarcastically.

Pansy went white, "Oh God, Hermione's hurt? This is all my fault. I better get Harry."

She rushed back into the teashop appearing not long after with a worried Harry behind her. "What's happened? Where's Hermione," he snapped.

"Look calm down, we don't actually know what's happened. Theo and I split up from Draco and Blaise to go and find Hermione. We received Blaise's patronus telling us to return. We don't know how badly Hermione has been hurt," Daphne reasoned.

The four of them turned in the direction of Hogwarts and ran.

* * *

><p><em>The Infirmary<em>

Hermione paced as she'd watched Madam Pomfrey work on Malfoy. She'd never forgive herself if something happened to him. She couldn't understand how Blaise and Ginny could sit there so quietly waiting for Madam Pomfrey to finish.

"There you go my dear, I've finished now. Mr Malfoy will be out for a while but there will be no lasting damage." Madam Pomfrey said to the clearly distraught girl.

Hermione burst into tears as she took this in, scaring everyone present. Hermione Granger didn't cry. She collapsed into the chair next to Malfoy's bed and clutched his hand. Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows and looked at the other pair who wore identical amused expressions whilst watching the brunette's actions. Madam Pomfrey decided she needed a cup of tea to deal with this new friendly Gryffindor/Slytherin Hogwarts dynamic. Albus was going to be insufferable when he found out how well his house unity plans were working. At least she didn't have to share an office with him. Poor Minerva.

The door to the infirmary banged open as the three Slytherins and Harry rushed in. Harry spotted Ginny, "where's Hermione? Is she ok?"

Ginny nodded and pointed to Hermione who was clinging onto Malfoy's hand as if her life depended on it. "She's fine, had a lucky escape but Malfoy's not so good."

This caused Pansy to wail and lean over Malfoy from the other side.

"Ok, now I know Draco's going to be fine, I'll think I'll leave. There are far too many weeping girls in here for me," Blaise said, "Theo, fancy coming with me to beat Baddock and his pals black and blue?" The other boy nodded and they headed out of the Infirmary.

Harry went to check on Hermione. She hadn't even acknowledged his presence. "Hermione love, are you ok?" He asked

She looked up from where she was staring at Draco, "I'm fine, they didn't do anything to me. Draco arrived in time. But Baddock had my wand and I couldn't help. This is all my fault, I shouldn't have gone off on my own." She started crying again.

Harry knelt down and put his arm around her, "Hey shush, it's not your fault. It's those thugs' fault for being prejudiced prats."

Hermione shook her head, "No I ignored Draco, he told me this morning that I had to be careful but I was hurt that he'd arranged for Daphne to be my friend and so I wandered off on my own and now he's in lying here because I'm an idiot."

Daphne came up and took Hermione's free hand, "Seriously Hermione you are such an idiot. Sure, Draco told me at first to look out for you but how could you think that our friendship was nothing more than that now?. You should have asked me rather than get yourself so worked up."

Hermione sniffled harder, "He's never going to forgive me for this and neither are you."

"Listen, none of us expected to like you but we all do especially Draco. He started out wanting to protect you for Slytherin's reputation but you should have seen him lay into Blaise last night for the scarf stunt. I've never seen him so angry and that was purely for you." Daphne continued.

Pansy nodded her agreement, "I've known Draco since we were two years old. I've never seen him be so responsible towards someone else's safety. He won't be angry with you but happy that you aren't hurt."

Hermione looked down at the unconscious Slytherin and squeezed his hand harder. Please just say he was going to be ok.

* * *

><p><em>The Slytherin Common Room<em>

As Blaise and Theo entered the common room they were met with a chaotic scene. It seemed as if the Slytherin house was at war with each other. Baddock and his allies were strutting about pushing their weight around whilst Astoria, Harper and then rest of Quidditch team were remonstrating with them and it looked as if it was about to get ugly.

"Baddock, I wouldn't get too comfortable if I was you," Blaise called out. His voice acted as a silencer, every Slytherin curious to see what Draco's best friend would do to Baddock

The idiot sneered at Blaise, "What are you going to do Zabini? Try anything and you'll end up next to your mate Malfoy."

It seemed as if Blaise had barely moved but Baddock found himself in the full body bind. Blaise stalked over, "keep talking little boy but you better run and hide because when Draco gets out, you are dead." Blaise gave him a sharp kick to the stomach, "anyone else want to try and follow Baddock?"

The Slytherins all turned away and went back to their usual business. They had genuinely been curious to see if Baddock could overthrow Malfoy but none of them were stupid enough to try. They didn't want to end up on Malfoy's bad side knowing the repercussions would last longer than Hogwarts.

* * *

><p><em>The Infirmary<em>

Hermione refused to leave Draco's side even when Madam Pomfrey kicked Pansy and Daphne out in the evening. She outright refused to leave and Madam Pomfrey didn't feel up to doing more than remonstrating with a tried and tested war hero so Hermione was allowed to stay. She continued to hold Draco's hand and stroke his forehead until she felt sleepy.

Draco woke a few hours later to find his right arm dead. He couldn't move it and opened his eyes to see Hermione asleep on his forearm. It took him a moment to remember what had happened but the relief he felt was immense when he realised that Hermione was fine. He unsuccessfully attempted to release his arm without waking her up. She stirred for a moment before looking up at him with sleep dazed eyes. She pushed the hair out of her face and smiled tremulously him.

"Oh Draco, you're awake. How do you feel?"

He didn't miss the use of his first name and he loved how it sounded coming from her, "I've been better. Are you ok? How did you manage to escape Baddock and his friends?"

"Just after you went down Blaise and Ginny arrived. They made short work of the other two. I'm so glad you're ok, I was so worried.

"Don't worry about me. I'm a Malfoy and it takes more than a couple of idiotic Slytherins to do serious damage." Draco smirked at her

Hermione gave a tearful smile at this. "I'm sorry Draco, I should have listened to you. I was upset and hurt at what you said but that's no excuse to completely ignore your warning," Hermione said beginning to sob again.

Draco lifted her face up and wiped her tears away, "Please don't cry Hermione. I'm fine." He hated seeing her cry over him.

"But it's all my fault. Aren't you mad at me? I didn't listen to you and because of that you end up unconscious and here."

Draco smiled at her, "Of course I'm not mad at you. Baddock I could kill but not you. I'm just glad you are ok." He squeezed her hand, "now where is Madam Pomfrey, I need to get out of here."

"I don't think that's a good idea Draco, you should stay here and rest up."

"Hermione, don't start bossing me about. I'm not Potter or Weasley, thank God, and I absolutely refuse to remain in this place when my much more comfortable bed is calling me."

Hermione hesitated unsure of what she should do. "You can stand there debating what the right thing to do is but I guarantee that there is no way I'm staying for any longer. So either you can go and get Pomfrey so she can give me what evil tasting potion she wishes to force down my throat, or I'll walk out of here without her knowing." Draco snapped.

Hermione signed, shaking her head at the irritable blond but went off to Madam Pomfrey's private quarters to wake her up. Fifteen minutes later, a sleepy and annoyed Pomfrey had released Malfoy mainly so he'd stop yelling at her, directing Hermione to give him the rest of the sleeping potion once they got to the common room.

Draco tried to pull another tantrum on Hermione when they got outside and she put her arm around his should to help him walk. "I'm not a baby Granger, I can walk perfectly well."

"Oh please Draco, you nearly fell over when you got out of bed. Stop being such a stubborn prat and just accept my help."

He pouted but let her assist him back down to the dungeons. When they walked in, they still found Blaise and Theo awake. The boys jumped up and rushed over to help Draco who was visibly flagging. "I just need to sit on the sofa for a minute. Stop molly coddling me, it was bad enough when it was just Granger," Draco snapped at them.

"Well excuse me for caring Malfoy. Maybe I should have left you to keel over and you could have spent the night on the cold stone floor."

"Oh just give me the sleeping potion woman and go to bed."

Hermione smiled knowing that Draco's nasty temper was a front for how ill he was really feeling. She passed the vial over to Blaise, "make sure he drinks this before going to bed. Don't let him bully you into thinking he doesn't need it, he does." Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright Malfoy, stop your moaning, I'm leaving you alone." Hermione bent over and kissed his cheek, "I'm glad you're ok Draco," she whispered in his ear before disappearing to her dorm room.

Theo and Blaise raised their eyebrows at this display of affection. "I swear only you could get injured failing to save the life of a girl who hates you and turn that girl into a mushy, affection puddle Draco," Theo commented.

"Shut up and give me that medicine. I'm tired." Draco said before stomping out the room.

"The Malfoy charm Theo, insult the girl and she'll fall for you. It seems to work every time." Blaise snickered.

**AN: A quick question: I'm curious as to who your favourite person so far in this story is and why.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for your fabulous responses to the last chapter. This story now has over 100 reviews which are more than I ever imagined I would get when I started. So thank you all so much.**

**Blaise seemed to come out on top for character you loved the most (other than Dramione of course!) so this chapter should please all you Blaise fans out there.**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter still belongs to JK Rowling and not me. What a surprise.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

_Slytherin Dorms_

Hermoine woke the next morning after a restless night. All her dreams seemed to have been invaded by a certain blond Slytherin. Thinking back to yesterday, Hermione groaned. How had she managed to make such a prat out of herself! Not only had she stupidly run off by herself, she'd also had to be rescued like some helpless damsel in distress by Malfoy. Not content with embarrassing herself this much, she'd then behaved like a crazy woman at his bedside and all but thrown herself at him. What was she thinking? She wanted to pull the covers up and hide all day under them but unfortunately it was Monday morning and that meant double Potions. She sighed, dragged herself out of bed and to the bathroom to shower.

Once she was dressed and ready, Hermione waited for Daphne. She knew that today was not the time to go around asserting her independence. At the bottom of the stairs, Blaise and Theo were waiting for them. Hermione blushed as she remembered her kiss on Malfoy's cheek. They were going to have a field day with her. At least Malfoy wasn't there too. She wasn't sure when she would be ready to face him again. Hermione felt even more conspicuous as she was flanked by the two young men on the way to the Great Hall. The Slytherin common room had descended into silence as they walked through. She was pleased to note that there was no sign of the fourth year boys.

The Great Hall came as a relief to the tension of the dungeons. Due to the close nature of the Slytherin house, the three other houses were as yet unaware of what had happened yesterday with the exception of Harry, Pansy and Ginny. Ron probably knew as well by now. She nodded and smiled in the direction of her friends sitting at the Gryffindor table. She wanted to reassure them that she was fine. She saw Pansy looking around for Malfoy but there was still no sign of him.

Daphne looked at the obviously upset and embarrassed brunette. She put her arm around her, "Hermione, you did nothing wrong ok? I also don't want this stand-offish attitude you've got going on to continue. I can imagine that, that master of diplomacy Draco Malfoy," she said sarcastically, "made it seem as if we only wanted to hang around you because he asked us to. That may have been the case at the beginning but we do genuinely like you for you."

"Yeah," Blaise butted in, "and we don't even ask you to check our homework for us like your Gryffindorks to." He winked at her making her laugh. "So no more crying and moping about," he said ruffling her hair.

Hermione nodded feeling a lot more comfortable around her new Slytherin friends.

"But Hermione, one favour please," Theo said, "no more wandering off by yourself. I really don't fancy a trip to the infirmary and I'm not sure Daphne would remain your friend if she saw you sobbing over my hand the way you did with Draco's yesterday."

Hermione flushed bright red and hid behind her cup of tea as the trio of Slytherins sniggered at her.

* * *

><p><em>Slughorn's Office<em>

Slughorn had requested Draco have breakfast with him that morning. He was keen to be told first hand what had happened yesterday. He had heard a highly dramatic account from Poppy Pomfrey of Draco being rushed into the infirmary and a distraught Hermione Granger refusing to leave his bedside. Minerva had raised her eyebrows in disbelief openly doubting that Miss Granger would ever behave in such a manner where Draco Malfoy was concerned. However Horace had seen the girl wearing the Slytherin captain scarf at the Quidditch match on the previous day and he was intrigued by the relationship between the two former enemies. He also hated to be behind with any gossip.

A very frustrating 40 minutes later and Slughorn was escorting Draco back to the common room. Malfoys were notorious for keeping their own council and being impossible to pry open when they didn't wish to reveal anything and the youngest Malfoy was no exception. Slughorn thought he'd give it one last go by trying to embarrass the truth of Draco.

"Well Mr Malfoy, I'm very glad that you are ok. Poppy told me that your girlfriend, Miss Granger, was most upset yesterday."

Draco looked impassively back at the old professor. If Slughorn thought he was going to fall for that pretty pathetic attempt to get him to spill the beans then he had another think coming. He made a non-committed sound and smirked as Slughorn made his way out of the door with a disappointed expression. He felt his godfather's black gaze burning a hole in the back of his head.

"I can tell you right now Severus that I'll never forgive you for dying and leaving Slytherin to the mercy of that bumbling idiot."

The former potions professor snorted "Just be grateful he wasn't your head of house for all your time at Hogwarts. However, unlike Horace, I know exactly what happened yesterday. What are you planning on doing Draco?"

Draco smiled one of the most unpleasant smiles ever, "What any good Slytherin would do. I plan on luring Baddock in a false sense of security and then I'll strike."

Snape nodded his approval. This was a proper response unlike those ridiculous Gryffindors with their impulsive heroics.

* * *

><p><em>Potions Classroom<em>

Hermione flushed and dropped her gaze when Malfoy wondered into the potions lesson 5 minutes late. Hermione had made sure that she sat next to Daphne as she really wasn't sure how to deal with Malfoy after yesterday. She felt a pair of silver eyes on her but refused to return the look. Malfoy was probably smirking at her embarrassing behaviour yesterday. Stupid Hermione, she scolded herself, becoming one of his fangirls.

"What's up with you and Granger now," Blaise whispered as they worked on their potions.

"Nothing. Why should there be?"

"Come on Draco, the girl was crying all over you yesterday and kissing you. Not exactly standard behaviour for Hermione Granger. So are you going to admit you like her and ask her out?"

Draco just raised his eyebrows. Blaise gnashed his teeth together. He hated it when Draco went all silent and cryptic. There was no point in him lying about his attraction to the Gryffindor Princess, it was more than obvious he had a thing for her especially to his friends.

"Now you can answer a question for me. What's going on between Pansy and Potty?"

No there was no way Blaise was delivering that bad news to Draco. He didn't feel like being on the receiving end of a very nasty hex. If Pansy was going to date the Boy Who Refused to Die then she could tell Draco herself. "Don't know mate, why you think something's happening?"

"The disgusting puppy dog eyes that Potter keeps gazing at her with are enough to make me vomit. I wouldn't think twice about it but she keeps giving him sickly sweet smiles in return. If she is stupid enough to see something in the moron then I'll have to make time to speak to him"

Blaise sniggered, "Scare him off you mean"

Draco gave a wolfish smile in return. Blaise hoped Pansy told Draco soon. All hell would break loose if he discovered the truth himself.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

"Psst Hermione, over here," Ginny waved. Hermione walked over and dumped her books on the table.

"How you feeling today?" the red head asked

"Mortified," was the response. "I completely and utterly embarrassed myself and in front of Malfoy of all people."

Ginny giggled, "I'm not sure Malfoy would see it that way. I bet he loved waking up to your vigil by his bedside."

"Stop it please. I want to forget the whole thing happened."

Ginny looked closely at the blushing brunette. She really did seem upset by it all. "Why are you so embarrassed by what happened Hermione? It was a completely understandable reaction towards someone you like."

Hermione spluttered, "I don't like Malfoy." Ginny scoffed and didn't even try to hid how little she believed that. "How can you think I like him? Have you forgotten how much he tortured me over the years?"

Ginny sighed, "Hermione, when are you going to let go of all this enmity? You keep insisting on seeing Draco in this terrible light but he has done nothing but look out for you and be friendly since you switched to Slytherin."

"It's not that easy to forgive seven years of taunts and insults. I thought you'd understand. It's not as if Malfoy has ever been very nice about your family."

"That's true but I choose to look beyond the past and so should you. Besides, it's obvious that Draco Malfoy has come back to Hogwarts a changed man. There have been zero mudblood or blood traitor insults and he hasn't even looked to get Harry or Ron into trouble so don't you think you should give him a chance."

"Give him a chance in what?" Hermione huffed.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Oh please Hermione, I know you better than most people and I can see that you're fighting an attraction to him. Why not just let go and see where it leads you?"

"I'm not attracted to Draco Malfoy. I was just upset and shaken up yesterday. I would have behaved the same had it been anyone."

Ginny snorted in disbelief, "Yeah, yeah Hermione keep telling yourself that and I'll remind you of it when I'm the maid of honour at your wedding."

Hermione threw a piece of parchment at Ginny's head, "I can't believe you're actively looking to encourage me to date the ferret," she hissed before storming out. Ginny shook her head. Hermione could run from her but there was no way she could run from her feelings for Malfoy.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Hermione swept out of the library pissed off with Ginny. How dare she say that she had feelings for Malfoy and was running scared? So what if he had come back to Hogwarts a nicer person, that he looked out for his friends and made contingency plans to keep her safe? He was still Malfoy and she couldn't forget that. Hermione's traitorous mind flashed to his hair glinting in the sunshine and how, when he truly smiled, he lit up a room. It was short leap from this to reminiscing about how his firm his toned body had felt pressed up against her as she helped him down from the infirmary last night. Stop it she yelled at herself. You _do not_ like Malfoy, you just feel grateful. Hermione was so angry with herself that she was paying no attention to where she was going and managed to smack into the one person in Hogwarts she was trying to avoid.

"Malfoy," Hermione mumbled as she bumped into the tall Slytherin.

"How come I'm back to Malfoy? It was Draco yesterday," he pointed out

Hermione blushed and twisted her fingers nervously, "Yeah, well that was yesterday. Today we're back to business as usual."

"Hmmmm I'm not sure I want that," Draco said, "I liked the friendlier version of you."

"Tough! You're Malfoy and I'm Granger, we hate each other and that's how it's going to stay."

"That's not true. I don't hate you and you didn't seem to hate me yesterday. In fact you seemed to care for me quite a bit."

Hermione's face got even redder, "Yesterday was rather exceptional all round."

"That's a shame because I liked the you from yesterday. You were natural and warm and I've not seen that side of you before."

"That's because we're not friends."

"I thought you were McGonagall's star pupil?"

Hermione paused, confused, "What has that got to do with anything?"

"I just think she'd be upset to see that her pet student didn't buy into her whole house unity ideology."

"What do you mean? Of course I support her efforts to bring the houses closer together."

"You could have fooled me Hermione. You're clinging so hard to hating me that your fingers are turning white," he smirked. "We both know that you don't hate me nearly as much as you pretend you do, after all no one goes around kissing those they hate but don't worry _Granger_ I'm a patient man. I can wait for you to stop fighting yourself." He whispered the last part in her ear, making her shiver.

He smiled in amusement as she squealed, stamped her foot and ran off. He wouldn't usually make such an effort with a girl but Hermione Granger wasn't any girl. She was unique with her extreme intelligence, sharp wit and fierce loyalty. He wasn't Weasley to let that go without a fight.

_Gryffindor Common Room_

"Harry can I speak to you for a minute?"

Harry turned round and saw Dennis Creevey. "Yeah, sure Dennis, is everything ok?"

"Not here, can we go somewhere quiet?"

"Sure, there's no one up in my room at the moment," Harry said leading the way up the stairs to the dormitories. Harry was concerned; Dennis looked a mixture of angry, hurt and scared.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Is it true you and _Parkinson_ are seeing each other?" Dennis spat out

Harry suddenly knew where this was going. Whilst he wanted to know the truth of what had happened that night last month, he wasn't sure he was ready to really have to face the fact that one of his own was capable of behaving that way. "Yes," Harry said baldly.

"How could you? How could you be with her? After everything that happened Harry."

"Yes, but I choose to look beyond the war and to the future. That's what we won the war to do, to have a future where the old ideologies didn't matter."

"Don't give me that crap. You can spout sunshine and roses all you want but I don't forget what bitches like her are really like. She's using you to make her time here easy but when she goes back to that hellhole that is the Slytherin dungeon, she'd be willing to give you back over to Voldemort if he was still alive."

Harry lost his temper and he shoved Dennis up against the wall. "Don't think I'm stupid, I know what this conversation is really highlighting. You're the one who hurt Pansy, didn't you? Why?"

Dennis smiled at that, "I thought the stupid bitch deserved it. I decided on some payback for Colin.

Harry looked into Dennis' eyes and saw that the boy wasn't all there. The manic gleam made him worry. "You do realise that Pansy wasn't the one to kill Colin don't you. She wasn't even in the castle at the time."

"It doesn't matter," Dennis shouted, "she is like all the others. She may not have been there but she would have killed him if she could. They're all like that, those bloody evil Slytherins."

Harry's heart broke as he looked at the boy. It was obvious he wasn't dealing well with the death of his brother. Harry knew how this felt, he'd been that way after the death of Sirius. "I'm sorry Dennis," he whispered as he stupefied him. He knew that McGonagall needed to know that Dennis had been the one to hex Pansy but had confidence that McGonagall would look to get Dennis the help he obviously needed.

* * *

><p><em>Halfway between the Slytherin and Gryffindor Common Rooms<em>

Blaise sighed in annoyance as he waited for the little red head who requested – wait make that demanded this meeting. If she was so desperate to see him then she could at least be bothered to turn up on time.

"Oi Zabini, over here," he turned to see her vivid face peeking around the corner. "Hurry up, there's an empty classroom down this corridor."

"Hurry up? Excuse me, I'm not the one late!" Blaise grumbled in her wake.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Quit whining and get your lanky backside in here."

"Lanky? I'll have you know that I'm 6ft of pure muscle sweetheart." He ambled in slowly knowing that he was infuriating her. She was practically bouncing up and down with suppressed energy. "What's so urgent Weaslette?"

She smacked him, "I thought I told you not to call me that."

"Sorry, old habits die hard. What's so urgent _Ginny_?" he emphasised.

"It's Hermione, she's messing up Operation House Unity."

"What's your stubborn Golden Girl doing now? Hopefully not sobbing over someone else's poor, unsuspecting hand?"

Ginny threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "She's running. She won't admit how she feels for Malfoy and is running as hard and as fast as she can."

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Duh - because I need you to find out how Malfoy feels."

Blaise scoffed at her, "Easier said than done, getting Draco to open up about his feelings is like trying to get blood from a stone. Besides, I already tried and he fobbed me off."

"So you're just giving up? Here I was thinking Slytherins were manipulative and cunning. Are you sure you aren't really in Hufflepuff?"

Blaise glared at the Gyffindor, "I thought you Gryffindors were above hitting below the belt and besides aren't Hufflepuffs' your best friends?"

"God, could you get any more moany and stay on point Blaise. I need to know how Malfoy feels. How else am I meant to direct Hermione into his potentially loving arms?"

"What do I get out of this if I do decide to risk life and limb to open Draco up? He's a bloody nightmare if you push him to do things he doesn't want to" Blaise said

"You mean besides the happiness of your best friend? I may be open to sweetening the deal." Ginny coerced.

Blaise considered this intrigued, "With what? It'd have to be good for me to risk the wrath of a Malfoy."

Ginny rolled her eyes, pushed the unsuspecting Blaise against the wall. "Oh I think you'll find this inducement enough," she said and kissed the unsuspecting Slytherin.

She giggled as she stepped back and saw his shocked face. "Close your mouth Blaise or you'll catch flies. There may be more of those depending on the usefulness of the information you give me." With that she left the classroom.

Fuck, the woman was going to give him a heart attack. How the hell did she not end up in Slytherin?

**AN: I hope you all you Blinny fans, of which there appear to be many, enjoyed that last bit.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Ok, you are all going to kill me but thanks to the amazing staff at the UK passport office, I've managed to get my son's passport 8 days before I was meant to which means I'm off to Lebanon tomorrow for 3 weeks. I'll have very limited access to the internet and won't be able to post any new chapters. But I promise you all that I will continue to write the story in between being fed until I can't move by my in-laws.**

**But look, I'm such a good person, I wrote this chapter especially for you whilst turning my flat upside down packing, then cleaning the mess up and generally chasing my toddler about. **

**Thank you all so much for your continuing reviews, alerts and favourites. You'll all be rewarded when I return with hopefully the completion of the story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

_McGonagall's Office_

Harry knocked on McGonagall's door as soon as the winding staircase stopped. He'd left Dennis under the watchful gaze of both Ron and Neville. He didn't want the news to get out just yet as to who had hexed Pansy. He'd made sure Pansy had no idea and for now she and Ginny were in the common room gossiping. He just hoped they weren't comparing notes about him. The thought made him shudder. McGonagall called for him to enter. "How can I help you Mr Potter?"

Harry looked up into the twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore before straightening his shoulders. "I found out who hurt Pansy Parkinson, Professor."

McGonagall sat up and there was instant silence from all the portraits. She looked at Harry, encouraging him to continue. "It was Dennis Creevey. He told me he did it in revenge for his brother Colin being killed in the final battle."

"And how did he so fortunately come to confide in you all of this Mr Potter?" Snape sneered from his portrait.

Harry faced his former potions professor. Knowing that Severus Snape had loved his mother his whole life and had died to avenge her had made him respect Snape a lot more. Unfortunately, Snape's love of his mother hadn't extended to her son. Harry Potter was too much like his father James for Snape to ever be fond of him.

"He confronted me about my feelings for Pansy. He asked if it was true that we were seeing each other and when I replied that we were he told me that he had attacked her."

Harry saw that the news of his relationship with Pansy had stunned the office except for Dumbledore who was smiling at him with approval. Harry turned to McGonagall, "I think he needs professional help Professor. He is obviously unstable and isn't coping very well with the death of his brother. I think he'd do much better with some time away at St. Mungos."

McGonagall nodded at Harry's assessment. She trusted him to make such a decision especially in light of his surprising relationship with Pansy Parkinson. "I'll have to talk to him of course Mr Potter before referring him to a healer. May I ask where he is?"

"Unfortunately I had to stun him. He was getting increasingly upset and I didn't want him to inflict any more damage. I left him under the care of Ron and Neville."

"That makes sense. If you could please return to your common room and bring him back with you. I do believe it would be best to deal with this tonight."

Harry agreed and left in order to bring Dennis to McGonagall. He was glad that she had accepted his recommendations.

McGonagall leant back in her chair, "Who'd have thought it? Harry Potter and Pansy Parkinson becoming an item. Maybe there is more to your plan than appears Albus."

Dumbledore smiled, "I knew these seventh years wouldn't let us down. Harry and Pansy being able to put last summer behind them really bodes well for the future of the wizarding community."

Snape rolled his eyes. Trust the sappy former Gryffindors to be so happy about this development. He wasn't so thrilled. He needed to go and find Draco. He was sure his Godson wasn't aware that the girl he viewed as his sister was dating his least favourite student.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

Blaise was deep in thought. Despite his flippant attitude in front of Ginny earlier, he was keen on helping Draco get his girl as much as he could. He knew how lonely Draco was deep down. His family life had been ripped apart by the second coming of Voldemort and now his father was in Azkaban and his mother was a shell of her former self. The pressure of restoring the Malfoy family name was firmly on Draco's shoulders and this automatically singled him out from other pureblood families who weren't so closely connected to the Dark Lord. Blaise looked over at the curly haired witch doing her essay by the fire. Draco could do with someone like Hermione by his side. She was smart, dedicated and loved with a passion. Anyone could see that from the loyalty she gave her friends. Draco would benefit so much from having that much faith put in him but how to bring it about?

Hermione could feel someone boring a hole in the back of her head. At first she'd thought it was Blaise but apart from a brief look at her he went back to contemplating whatever he was and staring into the fire. She looked around the common room and spotted the source of her discomfort. Malcolm Baddock. He smirked at her before flexing his fingers. She felt her throat tingle as she remembered the sensation of them wrapped around her throat. He really was a creepy little git.

Draco walked into the common room and sized up the situation at once. He'd been perfectly serious with Snape earlier that day when he said he wanted to lull Baddock into a false sense of security. His revenge would be so much more powerful if it was unsuspecting. It would also serve as a lesson to any other pretenders that Draco Malfoy was not someone to mess with. So all Draco did for now was glare at Baddock before sitting next to Hermione and putting his arm protectively around the back of the sofa, resting his hand on her nape.

"What do you think you're doing," she hissed at him

"What do you think I'm doing? Making it look as if we're an item."

"Why?"

"Because as our knuckleheaded friends," Draco scornfully nodded towards Blaise, "thought it was such a good idea to wrap you in my scarf at the match, the rest of the Slytherins think we're dating each other."

"Why not just tell them the truth that we were set up and it was all a joke?"

"Because my sweet Hermione, it's safer if the Slytherins think we are dating."

Hermione scoffed, "Yeah because that worked out so well yesterday."

Draco scowled at her. Why couldn't she, just for once, go with him on this? Why did she have to fight him every inch of the way? "Yesterday happened because you wandered off alone giving Baddock a chance. That's not going to happen again."

Hermione shivered as she thought about how helpless she'd be and how lucky it was that Draco had happened upon her when he did. He felt her shiver, wrapped his arm about her, "Hey, there's no need to worry. I won't let him touch you again ok."

She nodded at him, "I just need you to trust me a little bit Hermione. I know that's hard for you to do and that you can look after yourself but you don't understand the Slytherins or how they think. I do."

Hermione hated to let go of the reins but Draco made sense. He was after all the Slytherin Prince and if anyone could protect her in this situation it was him. "I trust you Draco, what do you need me to do?"

"Try not to tense up as soon as you see me. I will have to touch you so relax and not make it seem as if you need to rush off to disinfect yourself straight away."

"Ha bloody ha Malfoy. You were the one obsessed with blood and germs." She leant against him, resting her head on his shoulder, "How is this?"

"An O for outstanding as usual Miss Granger," he teased.

Theo waltzed in and sat down, "I see the Malfoy charm is functioning perfectly well. I had higher hopes for you Hermione. I expected you to at least give Draco a run for his money."

Blaise laughed, "They're sickening. I think you and Daphne may be about to lose your title as most disgustingly loved up couple in Hogwarts."

Hermione blushed, "For your information Theodore, this isn't how it looks. We're just pretending to be a couple, mainly because of that idiot over there." She pointed to Blaise.

"I ask again, how is this my fault? Why doesn't Pansy or Ginny ever get any blame?"

"Because they aren't here to witness my shame and you are," Hermione said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Real mature Granger. Draco, I see you've got yourself a keeper." Blaise drawled sarcastically.

"She's seen through your lame act Blaise which makes her a keeper in my eyes." Draco retorted.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I've had about as much Slytherin charm as I can take. I'm going to bed." As she got up to walk away, Draco caught her hand and tugged her back.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"You aren't really going to make me kiss you are you?"

"You didn't have a problem giving me a goodnight kiss yesterday."

Hermione huffed, leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. "Is that the best you can do? That has to be D for Dreadful which has to be a first for you Granger."

"It's an D I can live with perfectly happily. Now let go of my hand."

Draco laughed at her, "Not until I've done this," and pulled her back down for a proper kiss. Hermione's breath caught in her chest as his soft lips moved against hers and she melted against him for a brief moment, opening her mouth when his tongue demanded entrance. Then she realised where she was, pulled back and glared at him angrily.

"I can't believe you just did that Malfoy," she hissed at him

"I have standards. No-one would really believe I'd accept a goodnight kiss on the cheek."

"You're lucky I don't hex you here and now," retorted Hermione before storming from the common room, her cheeks stained bright red.

Draco leant back into the cushions smugly. He was determined to use this situation to his advantage and that meant kissing Hermione regularly until she gave in to the chemistry between them.

Theo coughed and smirked at the Blond. "Try not to be too pleased with yourself Draco."

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Common Room<em>

Harry, Ron and Neville had managed to get Dennis out of the common room and up to McGonagall without anyone noticing there was anything wrong with the fifth year. They had left him with McGonagall who had already contacted St. Mungos. They were a solemn bunch as they made their way back to the common room. Dennis' plight had affected them all. Made them realise once more that all the death and destruction they had seen was still playing a role in their lives. Pansy ran over to Harry as soon as he climbed through the portrait hole. "Is everything ok?"

Harry sighed, he didn't want to bring any more trouble into Pansy's life but she had the right to know who it was who'd put her in the infirmary ward.

"Come and take a walk with me."

Pansy smiled and held Harry's hand. She could tell he was troubled about something and didn't want to add to his burden by questioning him incessantly. They walked through the deserted Hogwarts corridors. Harry pulled Pansy in close for a hug. The thought of losing her now was unbearable. He couldn't believe that just last month he'd been so blasé about her safety.

"I found out who cursed you tonight." Harry stated matter of factly.

Pansy's heart missed a beat and leapt. She felt herself shake. She didn't want to appear weak but she'd tried her hardest to put that night out of her mind. She didn't want to think that there was someone out there who hated her that much. "Who was it?" she asked quietly.

"It was Dennis Creevey, you know Colin Creevey's little brother. He was angry about the death of his brother and blamed you because you happened to be in Slytherin and well because of what you said that night." Harry hated to remind Pansy of that and his heart broke when he saw her dip her head in shame. "Hey, you know I don't blame you for what you said."

Pansy felt tears well up in her eyes, she was so ashamed of her actions back in the summer especially now she'd come to care so much for the boy she'd wanted to hand over to that evil prick Voldemort. She disentangled her hand from Harry's and moved away from him. "How can you forgive me so easily?"

Harry grasped her shoulders and turned her back round to face him. He put a finger under her chin and tilted it up forcing her to look at him. "You did something stupid and you admitted it. You aren't an evil person Pansy, you were scared. I know how it is to be scared and I know what it is like to have caused someone's death which is so much worse that what you did. For me there is nothing to forgive. I care for you and I never want you to doubt my feelings again."

Pansy sobbed as she hugged Harry fiercely. "I don't deserve you."

"You deserve more than me," Harry said pulling her up onto her tip-toes for a passionate kiss. His past feelings for Cho Chang and even Ginny paled in comparison to what he felt for Pansy. Now he needed to make her see it.

Ten minutes later, a thoroughly kissed Pansy asked "What's going to happen to Dennis?"

"McGonagall has sent him to St. Mungos to receive counselling. She will make sure that receives all the help he needs to get back on his feet."

Pansy nodded "I'm glad. This war has destroyed too many lives."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Girls Dorm<em>

Hermione pressed her hands against her burning cheeks. She couldn't believe that Malfoy has just done that. _He sure can kiss_ the annoying little voice in her head said _at least you get that benefit whilst pretending to date him_. Shut up shut up shut up she chanted to herself.

"_But Draco kisses so well. Why can't we allow ourselves to enjoy it?" Hermione asked._

"You do not think about him that way, you cannot have feelings for him, I won't allow it," Granger retorted.

"_You're no fun. What's the harm in playing along with his game especially with perks like that?" Hermione responded_

"Because it's Malfoy, he's an annoying ferret who made our life hell." Granger said

"_But at least he's a sexy annoying ferret who appears to want to kiss us and kiss us incredibly well."_ _Hermione pointed out_

"When did you turn into such a pathetic little fan girl?" Granger mocked

"_Since he gave us the best damn kiss we've ever experienced and I want more. Come on, live a little. What's the worse that could happen?" Hermione asked._

"NO! Stop it and go away." Granger shouted

Daphne peered into the room, "Are you ok Hermione? I heard you shouting?"

"Er yeah, fine. Just thinking out loud," she answered trying to not blush too much.

Daphne gave her a weird look and went back into the bathroom.

Hermione groaned and shoved her pillow over her face. Great now her internal dialogue was external for the whole of Slytherin house to hear. "Stupid evil Malfoy," Granger said.

"_Mmmmm sexy yummy Draco," Hermione responded._

**AN: I hope that makes all of you nagging for a proper Dramione kiss happy. Please review, it'll cheer me up as I have a 5 hour flight with a 20 month old hyperactive boy to look forward too.**

**Oh if any of you wonder where I got my crazy internal dialogue for Hermione from, then read Georgette Heyer's the Quiet Gentleman or any of her books in general because they are amazing.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: So I'm back from Lebanon and surprisingly thinner despite all the food I was forced to eat by my mother-in-law mainly because I sweated buckets in the heat and humidity. This chapter was initially going to be much longer but I've broken it in two because I quite like leaving it where I have and also because I just spent a frustrating 5 hours in A&E waiting for a doctor to see my son and because I promised some of you an update tonight. **

**Thank you so much for all your reviews and alerts when I was away. I got a very big, happy smile when I finally got internet coverage on my phone and my inbox was swamped with them all.**

**Disclaimer: No, I didn't magically morph into JK Rowling whilst in Lebanon. Pity.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

_Slytherin Common Room_

Draco noted the swagger of Malcolm Baddock as he left the common room with narrowed eyes. So far his plan was working perfectly. Baddock had spent the first few days of Draco's release from the infirmary keeping to the sidelines worried about repercussions. Now he thought he was off the hook and consequently was strutting around the Slytherin common room as if he owned the place. Draco's lack of action was certainly confusing to the rest of the house but Draco knew this inaction would make it all the more powerful when he did strike.

"So Drake, what are you waiting for? Are you just going to let Baddock get away with it?" Blaise asked.

Draco knew his inaction was grating on the nerves of Blaise and Theo the most. They couldn't understand what the hold up was and Draco hadn't shared his plans with them just yet knowing that their frustration with him was lulling Baddock into a greater false sense of security. "Why? Are you planning on doing something about Baddock yourself?" Draco mocked gently.

"I'm thinking I may have to as you are taking your sweet time."

Draco smirked, "So you think a Zabini could outdo a Malfoy in the revenge stakes?"

"It depends on the Zabini and the Malfoy. Apparently you don't appear interested in keeping up the family tradition in revenge," Blaise retorted.

"It's all a matter of timing my dear Blaise. This is why we Malfoys excel at extracting the sweetest of revenges whilst you Zabinis just gain the swiftest."

Theo sniggered at that, "You have to admit that Draco has a point."

"If you are all quite finished debating the merits of your last names like a bunch of vulgar Gryffindors, I have some news that may interest you," Snape interjected sarcastically.

Draco looked up at the portrait of is Godfather and saw the impatience on the sullen former professors face. He shushed Blaise who was about to protest. "Go on Severus."

"I've been trying to get you alone for the last week or so Draco but it has been impossible as you seem melded to the side of Miss Granger. Last week Potter found out who cursed Pansy."

"What! Why am I only finding out about this now? Do you think Pansy knows?"

Snape nodded, "I can only assume that she hasn't come to find you and let you know?"

"No, it appears that she is avoiding me which I ascertain has something to do with her increasingly closeness with Potter."

Blaise and Theo shared an uncomfortable look which didn't escape Draco's notice. So they knew something. "Ok Nott, Zabini, you are obviously aware of something to do with Pansy and Potter. Which one of you is going to get the guts to tell me?" Draco growled.

Neither boy seemed willing to spill the secret so Snape stepped in. "I think what you find you are missing is that Potter and Pansy are dating. He confirmed this last week to McGonagall when telling us about Dennis Creevey being the one to hex Pansy."

Draco silently grappled with his temper. Snape knew as well as Blaise and Theo that now was not a good time to interrupt his internal battle. Draco pinned his fellow Slytherins with a ferocious glare, "I take it from the look you just shared that you both knew about this and failed to tell me."

Theo cleared throat nervously after losing a brief but furious eye conversation with Blaise. "Yes, we both knew but felt it was Pansy's place to tell you."

Draco felt his temper rise but knew that now was not the time to lose it. He needed too much information to waste time shouting at his cowardly friends. "What's happened to Creevey?" Draco asked Snape ignoring the other two boys completely.

"He's currently in St. Mungo's receiving help for post traumatic stress disorder. Potter asked McGongall for this treatment for him," Snape said sourly.

Draco snorted in an impressive imitation of his Godfather, "Typical bloody Gryffindors completely unable to take the appropriate revenge."

Snape nodded his approval at this. Draco really was a source of pride now he'd come into his own since the war.

Draco turned his attention back to Blaise and Theo and proceeded to comprehensively lambast them for keeping him in the dark.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Girl's Dormitory Stairs<em>

Hermione stopped midway down the stairs with her hand covering her mouth to suppress her gasp of surprise. She'd forgotten her Arithmancy text book in the common room earlier than evening and was on her way to pick it up when she'd heard Snape telling Malfoy of Pansy and Harry's relationship. Time was of the essence and she needed to tell the lovebirds that Malfoy knew about them before he got to either of them. Who knew what damage Draco could do to Harry otherwise.

Hermione had been on tenterhooks since last week when Malfoy had kissed her. He hadn't repeated the action since despite her fears that he would. Or was that hopes? Hermione was completely torn in two by the handsome blond. The pragmatic side of her was telling her to run fast but her romantic half persisted on calling him Draco and seemingly enjoyed riling her with little touches when she least expected it but he hadn't moved in to kiss her again and Hermione, much to her annoyance, couldn't decide if she was happy or sad about this.

She was also struggling to figure him out. She had thought that he would take Baddock apart and quickly but so far he was ignoring the pretender to his throne. Whilst Malfoy had been a coward during the big moments with Voldemort she could now see that it had mainly been due to his internal conflict. He'd been told that he must hate muggleborns, Harry and Dumbledore. His upbringing had been an indoctrination of pureblood supremacist sentiment. He was destined to be a Death Eater and a rival to Harry at Hogwarts. But with the defeat of Voldemort he'd been allowed to be his own person and she found that she rather liked this less constrained Malfoy. But whether now or before, he'd always been able to control Slytherin House but this latest incident suggested otherwise. Hermione has seen the fury in Draco's eyes when she had been attacked but now he came across as indifferent to Baddock and his posturing. This didn't fit with her impression of him at all since switching to Slytherin House. Something had to be up, this was very un-Malfoyish behaviour. Even Blaise and Theo seemed confused and frustrated by his hesitation to put Baddock in his place. If Hermione knew Malfoy at all then she knew that he had to be planning something. But before tackling this problem, she had to get to Pansy and warn her that her black haired, green-eyed secret was out.

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><p><em>Gryffindor Tower<em>

Hermione felt annoyed at having to wait outside her former common room as if it hadn't been her home for the last 7 years but the Fat Lady had refused to let her in without the correct password. "Sorry dear but you are technically a Slytherin now so I can't let you in."

So Hermione waited impatiently for someone to stir and come out to seek breakfast. Finally she was able to enter the common room when Dean surfaced. She spotted Harry and Pansy in the corner getting ready to leave for the day.

"Hermione what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"I'm on a mercy mission to warn the pair of you that Malfoy knows about you."

Pansy looked stricken at the news "He's going to kill me for not telling him. Who told on me, Blaise or Theo? I'm going to murder whoever it was."

This made Hermione chuckle "Sadly for you Pans, the person who told him is already dead." Pansy looked confused at this.

"Snape," Harry hissed with distaste. "I forgot he was there during my meeting with McGonagall. I bet he loved going to Malfoy with this."

"There was a certain smugness to his tone I will admit."

"How has Draco taken it?" Pansy asked.

"Not well from what I overheard. He shouted at Blaise and Theo for an impressive amount of time. He also knows about Colin and wasn't overwhelmingly appreciative of your solution to that problem either Harry."

Pansy managed to raise a smile for this "Well it was a very Gryffindor reaction. We Slytherins would have been a lot more vindictive in our punishment."

Hermione looked uncertainly at Pansy regarding this which she noticed, "Why the surprise?" she asked.

"Well it's just that Draco has done nothing to Baddock who is getting cockier by the day which seems to rather counteract your statement about Slytherins."

Pansy smirked at Hermione's naïveté. "That's just a classic Draco tactic. The boy is positively evil when it comes to revenge and he likes to make his victims sweat. He's lulling Baddock into a false sense of security before he strikes but guaranteed he will strike."

Hermione nodded at this. It fit with her idea of Malfoy's character. She had seen his protective side and she'd been sure that he wouldn't let such a challenge to his authority slide. She also had come to know how much weight the Malfoy name held in Slytherin circles and she'd been surprised that he would just lie down and take Baddock making a mockery of his name. "So you think he'll go after Baddock?"

"Oh I don't think he will, I know he will," Pansy replied. "Draco's a master at picking the right time. Currently he's waiting for this moment and then he will humiliate Baddock to show that no-one curses a Malfoy and gets away with it."

Harry gulped at this. He'd been on the wrong side of Malfoy one too many times recently and if what Pansy said was true then he'd better watch his back because he was definitely going to feel the Malfoy wrath for daring to go near Pansy.

**AN: Ok so the next chapter will also be a smaller one like this but I promise you some action. Please show me some love and leave a review as it will make me feel better after my son's pushchair was lost by Air France and I'm still waiting for them to locate it in Paris!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors' Note: See a much quicker update for you all **** Thank you so much for the lovely reviews, alerts and favourites :) They really do make my day and if I don't respond to you then it's because you have disabled your PM function or don't have an account.**

**Also, I've started a new story. It literally begged to be started before I could continue writing this one, so please do check it out. It's Scorpius/Lily but does have hints of Dramione!**

http:/ www . fanfiction. Net /s/7405775/1/ **(Remove the spaces)**

**Disclaimer: I'm a bit bored of writing these – you all know I'm not JK Rowling by now.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

_Slytherin Common Room_

Draco smirked as he saw that Baddock had walked right into the centre of his web. He glanced at Blaise and Theo who had followed him back into the common room and saw the glee in both their eyes as they looked towards Baddock too. Draco had chewed the pair of them out and then shared his plans for Baddock's downfall. They had agreed wholeheartedly with the scheme Draco had come up with.

Daphne had then dropped a few tit bits in her sister's ear and Astoria with the help of Harper had done the rest. Now Baddock and his cronies were camped out in the chairs that unofficially been Draco's since the fourth year. It was a very public declaration from Baddock that he had usurped Draco's position as leader of the Slytherins. Or so he thought. They truly were stupid if they believed the crap the Greengrass girls had spread for him. As if he was scared of Baddock, he'd lived with the Dark Lord for a year.

Draco swaggered over to the dumb fourth years with the grace and arrogance that only a Malfoy could muster. "Getting a bit above yourself aren't we Baddock?" Draco drawled.

"Why? It's not as if there is anyone here to stop me is there Malfoy," Baddock replied.

Draco smiled sweetly, which to anyone who knew him was a sign of danger. "Oh I wouldn't say that. I think you'll find that I'm still here and am very much king snake still."

Baddock guffawed at that, "I don't think blood traitors with filthy mudblood girlfriends get to rule the House of Salazar."

Draco sardonically raised his brow at this, completely unfazed by the slur which would have made him lose it in earlier years. "I beg to differ," he said indifferently, "A Malfoy, pureblood or not, will always come before a Baddock. It's a question of class and style."

The blood suffused Baddock's face as Draco's barb hit home. Draco grinned as he saw the red mist come down over Baddock's eyes. This was going to be easier than he thought. "No-one gets away with saying those things about my family," Baddock yelled.

Draco yawned delicately and quirked his eyebrows calmly which was the last straw for Baddock who went for his wand and tried to shoot a curse off at Draco who with a simple swish of his wand disarmed the raging Slytherin. "I thought we could settle this the muggle way as you seem so keen on that idea," with that Draco floored Baddock with a punishing right hook.

Hermione could hear the noise from the Slytherin common room as soon as she stepped foot in the corridor outside. It sounded as if a full scale war was happening as she heard furniture splinter and break. She dropped her library books, brandished her wand and ran in. She stopped in sheer shock at the sight that greeted her. Malfoy had Baddock pinned up against the wall. An incredibly bloodied and bruised Baddock who from the state of his body and the Slytherin common room had been thrown around.

"Draco," she shrieked, "put him down now." She ran to pull the blond off the collapsing boy.

"Not so fast Hermione," said Theo as he snaked a restraining arm around her waist. "You have to let Draco finish this once and for all."

Hermione looked at Theo in shock, "You mean he's going to kill him?"

Theo rolled his eyebrows at the intelligent brunette, "Don't be silly. Of course he's not going to kill him but he is going to show him that you cannot mess with a Malfoy and get away with it."

After struggling a few more times, Hermione submitted to Theo's sheer strength. There was no way she could break free so she turned her beseeching eyes on Draco and silently pleaded with him to stop.

Draco sighed in frustration at the soft hearted Gryffindor. Why couldn't she have stayed in the library for a little while longer? Of course she wouldn't understand the need for such a show of brute force but this is what he had to do in order to put Baddock back under whichever rock he'd crawled out from under. He ignored her doe like eyes which was a difficult thing to do as they played on his heartstrings and looked to finish what Baddock had started. His hand squeezed on Baddock's neck and he felt the younger boy gasping in need of air. "Not so pleasant to be on the other end of the muggle way is it Baddock?" He mocked.

The boy shook his head, pride in the dust as he openly begged Draco to stop. In response, Draco tightened his grip. "Don't ever challenge me again Baddock. Whilst I'm at Hogwarts I rule Slytherin House and I do what I like. If you ever touch anything that belongs to me again, I will kill you," he hissed as he slammed Baddock further into the wall and watched him pass out.

Draco released his grip and Baddock slid down the wall and crumpled into an unconscious heap on the floor. "Let that be a warning to all of you. Touch Hermione and I'll do worse," he said to the silently watching Slytherins. Several of Baddock's friends slunk out of the common room obviously worried they'd be next.

Hermione gave Draco a burning look of reproach. She shoved Theo's arm off and stomped her way up to her dormitory room. Draco signalled for Daphne to follow her. Hermione was incredibly angry with him and it was going to take a lot of work to get back into her good books. At least he'd guaranteed her safety now. No-one from Slytherin would dare to even look at her the wrong way from now on. They'd be too scared at what Draco might do to them.

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><p><em>Slytherin Girls Dormitory<em>

Hermione paced up and down too angry to stay still. How dare Malfoy treat her like some kind of possession to fight over? She was a living, breathing human being and she demanded that he treat her with the respect she deserved. She heard the door open behind her. "Are you ok?" Daphne asked.

Hermione growled in response, too angry and upset to articulate a response. "You realise Draco had to do that don't you," Daphne continued.

Hermione whirled around at this to face Daphne. "What almost beat a boy to death and then publicly state that he'll do worse if someone touches me?"

Daphne nodded, "As barbaric as it seems if Draco didn't respond with that kind of raw power then it would have got worse and the consequences for you could have been terrible. Do you think Draco could live with himself if something else had happened to you?"

"I don't appreciate being treated as if I'm a bone that a dog growls over."

"I know I get that I really do but what other action could Draco have taken?"

"He could have listened to me and stopped when I asked him to."

Daphne laughed humourlessly at this, "Come on Hermione, do you really believe that would have worked? All that would have happened is that Draco would have been seen as weak."

Deep down Hermione knew that this was the truth but it didn't mean that she liked it. She had seen too much violence and she had looked forward to this year being different. She hadn't planned on being the cause of two boys being put in the infirmary whether Baddock had deserved it or not. She sat down heavily on the bed next to Daphne, "I understand why Draco did it but it still doesn't mean that I like it. I also dislike being treated as a possession which is exactly what Draco just did in the common room."

Daphne acknowledged that Hermione had a point but she was also inexperienced with boys especially the alpha male model that was Draco Malfoy. "Hermione I only say this because you have dated two guys, one when you were very young and the other was your best friend but guys, especially ones like Draco get extremely possessive about their girls. If Baddock or anyone else had gone for you again then he would have blamed himself for not showing that to mess with you was unacceptable."

"I get that to a certain extent but I don't understand why Draco had to be so emphatic about it. I mean he's only stuck having to pretend to date me because Pansy and Ginny thought it would be amusing to play that prank with the scarf."

Daphne gave Hermione a level look, "And here was I believing you were some super intelligent witch," and walked out the door. She left Hermione feeling more confused than ever.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Draco moved silently back down to the Slytherin common room. He'd dumped Baddock outside the infirmary before setting off a timed distraction so that Madam Pomfrey would discover him. He couldn't help but replay Hermione's reproachful look towards him before she'd disappeared up to her room. He hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings by ignoring her wishes but he'd said that he would protect her and that meant putting Baddock back in his place. He had used tactics that Hermione certainly didn't approve of being typical Gryffindor but they had worked and she was safer than she'd ever been since stepping foot in Hogwarts as an annoying bushy haired eleven year old. For Draco that was worth the hoops she'd undoubtedly make him jump through before speaking to him again.

Draco pulled his mind away from the earlier events in the common room and one sexy stubborn witch when he heard a thud. Was that Filch? The last thing he needed was to receive detention for being out after hours and it wouldn't take a genius to realise who had dumped Baddock if he got caught.

Then he heard a giggle. That at least ruled the nasty squib and his awful cat out. Draco rolled his eyes. Great he was going to have to pass some amorous couple trying to get some before being caught by the patrolling prefects on his way back to the common room. At least it was Draco rather than Hermione who was out late as she'd certainly take her role as prefect seriously and would dock them points regardless of whether she was patrolling or not. He rounded the corner and a dark scowl marred his handsome features when he saw who the randy couple were.

Pansy moaned and clutched Harry's unruly hair. She loved patrolling with her boyfriend. They got much needed alone time away from the busy Gryffindor common room. Gone was the shy, unsure boy of last month. Now he revelled in making Pansy breathless which he did on a regular basis. Pansy moaned again as he kissed his way down her neck. His busy fingers were untucking her shirt and slipping underneath to grip her hips before tickling across her stomach causing her to giggle. Harry's hands were just starting to snake upwards much to Pansy's delight when someone cleared their throat causing the two prefects to jump apart.

"You may want to keep your dirty hands off her in future Potter," Draco growled.

**AN: I hope part 2 of my split chapter doesn't disappoint. **

**To midnight shadow of darkness, I think Draco hit Baddock hard enough for you :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Wow, I reached 200 reviews. You guys are really awesome. Thank you all so much for continuing to read and let me know what you think. I love reading your reactions to the story.**

**A big thank you also to echizenochi and addictedtobooks for going across to my other story The Temptation of Miss Potter and reviewing.**

**Apologies for the ridiculous amount of swearing in the first half of this chapter – Draco didn't listen to me when I threatened to wash his mouth out with soap.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

_Hogwarts Corridors_

Harry swore as he caught sight of Malfoy's thunderous face. The infuriated Slytherin stalked forward and grabbed Pansy's arm, "When the fuck were you going to tell me what was going on?" he roared at her.

Pansy flinched back away from Draco. She had never been on the receiving end of his rage and she now wished she'd had the guts to tell him about Harry rather than have him discover them making out. Pansy looked beseechingly at Harry. "Malfoy, let Pansy go," Harry said and Pansy swore under her breath. Of all dim witted things to say to Draco this had to be the worst.

"Fuck off Potter before I fucking hex you into oblivion. I'll let go of Pansy when I fucking want to," Draco snarled.

Pansy sighed. The more Draco swore the angier he was and judging by his current language this meant he was fuming. "You're going to hurt her in a minute," Harry continued. Pansy wondered why she'd looked to him to help her out in the first place. Judging by the increasingly tense body language Draco was getting ready to pounce.

"You think I'm some kind of fucking imbecile who would hurt Pansy?"

"I think you're angry and not in complete control of yourself."

Draco shot off a nasty stinging hex that hit Harry in the groin, "How is that for control you dickhead?"

Harry groaned and slumped to the floor. Pansy pulled herself out of Draco's grip and ran to Harry's side. She turned to look at Draco, "How could you?" she shrieked. "There was no need to hurt him."

"He fucking deserved it. Prick," Draco said raising his wand ready to hex Harry again.

Pansy darted in front and pointed her wand at Draco, "Don't you dare touch him Draco, I mean it."

"For fuck's sake Pansy, you'd raise your wand against me to defend that Gryffindor pussy."

"I love him Draco and you need to stop rampaging around like some kind of vengeful deity. He wanted to tell you, I kept putting it off and for good reason with the state you're in."

Draco ran his hand through his hair as he tried to lock his temper down before he did some real damage to Potter. Pansy was beginning to cry over the incapacitated Gryffindor and he had a headache coming from the stress of the evening. He really didn't need to lose it completely and lose Pansy altogether. "You let me find out from Severus' portrait that you and Potter are a couple?"

Pansy looked up at Draco and saw the hurt in his eyes. She was upset that she had neglected to tell Draco because of what he might say and instead now he was ten times angier because he'd had to find out from someone else. "I'm so sorry Draco," Pansy whispered, "I was just scared about what you would say."

"I would have respected this relationship a lot more if you had been honest with me from the beginning and told me that Potter was what you wanted."

Harry scornfully laughed at this. "Really Malfoy, you are saying that you wouldn't have given Pansy a hard time for choosing to be with me."

Draco gave him a look filled with contempt "I'm not saying I would have been thrilled or that I would have immediately embraced it but even I can see how happy you make her and that it's you she's defending and crying over right now. That is enough for me."

Pansy began to sob even harder at this, "Oh Draco do you really mean that?"

"Well apart from the fact that I'm scared about what Hurricane Pansy will do to me if I don't accept he's what you want, I want you to be happy," Draco said pulling Pansy up off the floor and putting his arm around her shoulders, "Contrary to what Potter thinks, I'm not a monster and I love you. Of course I want to see you happy and if that means a loser like The Boy Who Refused To Die then I guess I have to live with that."

Harry rolled his eyes at this. Trust Malfoy to still get a dig in at him when he was pretty much bestowing his blessing on his relationship with Pansy. "But as a prefect I must say I'm hugely disappointed with the behaviour of fellow prefects who are meant to be patrolling. So that will be twenty points each for dereliction of duty. Fifty points each for such inappropriate behaviour in the corridors," Harry and Pansy looked at each other in complete shock, "Oh and a hundred points from you Pansy for having such appalling taste in men." With a smirk Draco walked away before either realised they could dock points from him back.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

Ginny Weasley giggled as she looked at the group of Slytherins she was currently studying with. Who would have thought at the height of the war that she'd be sitting and chatting with the son of a Death Eater and two scions of prominent pureblood families but here she was with Theo, Blaise and Daphne. "Your Draco certainly caused a ruckus last night," Ginny said. She was surprised to see the nervous glances the Slytherins shared with each other. "The rest of Gryffindor aren't very pleased with him after waking up to see 240 points docked from our house and now losing the lead in the house cup to you snakes no less. Personally, I think it's cute how he's given Harry and Pansy his blessing even if it did come with a Malfoy sting in the tail."

Blaise released the breath he'd been holding. Thank God, he had thought for some terrible moment that Draco beating Baddock half to death had gotten out. "Yep, that's our Draco, never one to lose sight of how to dock a Gryffindor some points."

"I am surprised that he accepted Harry dating Pansy so easily though. The way everyone was acting," Ginny glanced pointedly at her Slytherin companions, "I fully expected to see Harry in the infirmary and Pansy banished to a tower in Malfoy Manor."

Daphne giggled at this, "Malfoy Manor doesn't have a tower or a dragon but I'm sure Draco would have thought about it if it did. But seriously, it's Pansy and as long as she is happy then Draco cannot resist giving her what she wants even if it is Potter. Besides Pansy's got a wicked temper when roused and Draco putting Potter in the infirmary certainly would have made that beast come out to play."

Theo scoffed, "Either that or Draco is getting soft and I know which bushy haired witch to lay the blame with."

"Soft? Were you in the common room last night?" Daphne retorted.

Both Blaise and Theo gave her warning glances which were not lost by the sharp eyed Weasley. Hmmmm it seemed as if she was going to have to pump Blaise for some information. How delicious.

Flustered Daphne said "Erm anyway I need to find Millie. We have a charm assignment together. Coming, Theo?"

Her dark haired boyfriend nodded, leaving Ginny with precisely the dynamic she wanted. She scooted her chair closer to Blaise, flicked her hair and gave him her most charming smile. "So Blaise, what happened last night in the Slytherin common room?"

The Italian looked at Ginny and quirked his eyebrow, "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to make me give up any Slytherin secrets to a Gryffindor."

Ginny gave Blaise a smile Salazar Slytherin himself would have been proud of and sidled into Blaise's lap. Putting her arms around his neck, she whispered into his ear "Is this any better?" before nipping his earlobe.

Blaise gulped, for once lost for words. "If you tell me what I want to know then there is plenty more where that came from," Ginny persuaded kissing a line down his neck and that was all it took for Blaise to spill what happened between Draco and Baddock. Draco would take him task later but Blaise would stick to his guns saying it was the best make out session ever.

* * *

><p><em>The Potions Classroom<em>

Hermione was dreading her potions lesson. She had been working with Malfoy really well over the last month or so but today she was seeing him for the first time since the Baddock incident as she had begun to mentally call it. Hermione made sure she arrived just before Slughorn and she slid into her seat keeping her eyes facing towards the front at all times. She could feel Malfoy's gaze on her face but she stubbornly kept her attention on Slughorn who was rambling on about a potion Hermione had had to brew several times last year. However, she acted as if this was the first time she'd ever heard about it, her attention seemingly rapt on Slughorn's description. Internally, Hermione's heart was beating so hard that she was worried Malfoy could hear it and she couldn't pull her mind away from their last meeting.

"So what are we just pretending that we don't know each other now?" Malfoy growled in her ear.

Hermione was determined not to give in to confronting him yet especially as she didn't have her emotions completely in check or her spiel already rehearsed. "You know Hermione this self-righteous act you have going on gets really boring really quickly."

That did it, Hermione saw red turned around, "Oh right, I'm self-righteous because I don't approve of you half-beating younger boys to death in the common room. Excuse me for having a heart and some morals," she hissed back at him.

Draco rubbed the skin at his temples, "What is it with you girls and morals? I swear you are all starting to give me a bloody headache."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm _so_ sorry for making your little Malfoy brain hurt with something so taxing but we can't all be cold, selfish bastards like you."

"Selfish? You know I could've made my life a damn sight easier by not giving morons like Baddock an opportunity to take a pop at me but no I decided I'd play nice and actually protect your ungrateful arse. Right now, I'm not sure why."

"Don't give me all that "look at me, I'm such a worthy knight in shining armour", you did it because you didn't want Slytherin's name dragged through the mud any more than it had been already. Which, I like to point out, you've done a stellar job in doing since your time at Hogwarts."

"What precisely is that meant to mean Granger, and I think you should think long and hard before you answer," Draco warned.

"Don't play Mr Innocent Death Eater with me Malfoy, you know exactly what I'm referring to," Hermione hit back.

She saw the fire ignite in Malfoy's eyes and his hands shake as he looked to control his temper. As she calmed down she realised she'd crossed a line which was why she hadn't wanted to have this confrontation until she was ready. "Malfoy, sorry that was below the…" she started

"Fuck off Granger," Malfoy snarled at her before storming out the class.

Slughorn broke off what he was saying and looked bewildered towards Hermione, "Miss Granger, is everything ok with Mr Malfoy?"

"Erm, he wasn't feeling too good Professor. He dashed off to the infirmary," Hermione said. It was a weak excuse and would never have worked on Snape but Slughorn was always happy to swallow something that meant he didn't have to do any following up. Besides an enraged Malfoy was something Slughorn was very keen to avoid.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Hermione dragged herself out of potions. She couldn't believe she'd been such a bitch. There had been no need to drag up Malfoy's sixth year, it was mean and nasty especially when he'd been so nice. He had protected her during the last six weeks and she'd thanked him by bringing up a time in his life that she knew he wanted nothing more than to forget. He'd matured and was doing what he could to make amends and she'd thrown it all in his face.

"Hermione, what's wrong with Draco?" Pansy gasped as she caught up with her.

Hermione groaned, she really didn't want to face Pansy with what she'd said. She felt ashamed as it was and now she was going to have to explain herself to Malfoy's practical sister. "I was a complete and utter bitch and said some things to Malfoy that make me want the ground to open up and swallow me."

"Why? I thought you guys were getting on great."

"We were until yesterday but I came back to common room last night and he was beating the crap out of Baddock and I got mad because he ignored me when I asked him to stop."

Pansy put two and two together, "So that's why Draco was out late last night. He must have been depositing Baddock at the infirmary."

"Hang on, you saw Draco last night?"

"Yeah, he walked into Harry and I making out."

"Wow, Pans that's huge. What happened?" Hermione asked

"As you can imagine Draco lost it and hexed Harry."

"But Harry was in Potions just now, how come he isn't with Baddock in the infirmary?"

"Let's just say I felt the need to get involved. I threatened to hex Draco back," Pansy broke off as Hermione giggled, "It's not funny Hermione, I've never raised my wand against Draco not even jokingly and I did it last night. I effectively chose Harry over him."

Hermione sobered up at that. Now she felt even worse for pushing Malfoy the way she just did. "How did he take it?"

"That's the thing, he was so sweet. He regained control of himself and gave me his blessing. He said that he didn't want me to be unhappy even it was Harry."

Hermione stared at Pansy with her mouth open. "I know that was pretty much my reaction too. I feel so crap that I didn't have the guts to tell him and that he had to find out from Snape."

Hermione groaned again, "I just had to choose today to be such a cow didn't I?"

"What did you day to Draco to make him storm out like that?"

"I don't want to tell you, I'm so ashamed for saying what I did."

"Come on Hermione, just spill it. It can't be that bad," Pansy encouraged.

"It is and you'll hate me when I tell you what I said."

Pansy rolled her eyes, "I cross my heart and hope to die that I won't hate you. There, is that good enough for you to tell me?"

Hermione nodded reluctantly, "I guess. I brought up Malfoy being a Death Eater and sixth year," Pansy gasped, "I know, I know and I don't know why I did it. He just got me so angry and I was still mad at him for yesterday and I just threw it in his face."

Pansy closed her eyes. Of all things Hermione could have said to piss Malfoy off that was the worse. It was his biggest regret and he felt unworthy as it was to be back at Hogwarts after letting Death Eaters into the school and causing Dumbledore to get killed. She looked at Hermione who was red faced and hanging her head in shame. Pansy wanted to scream at her for hitting Draco with such a low blow but by the looks of it Hermione was beating herself up already about it. "Ok, well the less said the better I think and we need to find Blaise."

Hermione gave Pansy a grateful smile for not shouting at her the way she knew she deserved.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Boys Dormitory<em>

Blaise quietly opened the door to the seventh year dorm room knowing that Draco would be in here wallowing. He spotted the tall blond sitting down between his bed and fire. Blaise moved into the room towards Draco.

"Not right now Blaise, I'm not in the mood."

Blaise moved round the bed and slid down to sit next to Draco, "There's a wild-haired Gryffindor pacing a hole in the floor outside."

"Is she lying in wait to throw the past mistakes of any other Slytherins in their face?"

"She was angry. She doesn't get the Slytherin way and she freaked out with what happened in the common room yesterday."

"Or maybe she said what she really feels," Draco sighed.

Blaise snorted, "The girl is crazy about you mate and she's the only who doesn't realise."

"I think you've been spending too much time with that red-headed pest."

"That red-headed pest understands Granger the most with the possible exception of the so called Dynamic Duo who, lets face it, are never going to point out to your bookworm that she's harbouring a secret desire for a certain sexy Slytherin."

"My God Blaise, you really have been spending too much time with Weaslette. Could you sound any more like a cheap agony aunt?"

"Stop sniping at me and go and talk to her. She's pretty distraught and to be honest she's starting to sully the good name of Slytherin with all her in your face emotions. She's beginning to scare the younger students. They've started to check their uniforms for any trace of ghastly red and gold tints."

"Fine, I'll talk to her but don't get your hopes up. She'll never see me in that light. The quicker you and your Weasley understand that the easier this will be when she's goes back to Gryffindor."

"Don't sell yourself short Draco, when you're not throwing blood related insults around you're pretty charming. So shall I send her up?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah I guess so."

After Blaise left, Draco stood up and sat with careless grace on his bed. He raked his hands through his hair and got himself mentally ready for yet another round of guess Granger's mood. She was turning him outside with her inconsistencies. He just wished she'd either leave him alone or come to terms with whatever she was feeling. The spark was there, he'd admitted to having feelings for her but she was stubbornly clinging to whatever she perfect vision of Mr Right she had and it was driving him nuts. He heard the door hesitantly creak open and looked up to see Hermione peaking around the door, unsure of her welcome.

"If you're coming in then will you hurry up and do so. And if you're here to apologise then you better make it good," He grumbled at her.

Hermione bit her lip nervously as she inched into the room. She cleared her throat "Draco, I'm really sorry."

"Why?" He asked her baldly

"Because it was mean, nasty and I didn't mean it."

"Are you sure? It's not as if we've ever had a good relationship. It's consisted of insults, threats and hexes. Why wouldn't you mean it?"

Hermione looked at the cool blond in front of her. He was right, they'd never been on good terms and two years ago she'd not thought twice about spitting the nastiest things in his face. But this year had been different. He was different and he was confusing the hell out of her. He'd returned to Hogwarts with a whole new attitude and once he'd stripped off that layer of spoilt, bullying brat, she liked what she saw. He was mature, intelligent and calm in the face of conflict. But yesterday, his behaviour had brought back all of her old memories of him. It was like the old Malfoy throwing his weight around just with a violent streak as Goyle and Crabbe were no longer around to do his dirty work for him. She sighed as she tried to sort her swirling thoughts into something rational to say. She flopped on the bed next to Draco, "I don't know, we're different and this," she said pointing her finger from him to her, "is different."

"If you think that then why the dig at me? I need you to be honest Hermione."

"I don't know, I was mad at you and I didn't like seeing what I did yesterday. It felt like the old you."

"Except that the 'old me' would never put his arse on the line for you Hermione and that's exactly what I did with the whole Baddock situation. The fact that you can't see that makes me wonder why the hell I'm bothering so hard to try with you." Draco pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Hermione, don't play dumb. Just because you are refusing to face up to it doesn't mean that you don't know what's staring you in the face. I have feelings for you and would quite happily make our dating charade real."

Hermione felt her face flame with colour and her heart pounded. Hearing him state his feelings for her out loud was flattering but scary all at the same time. Never in a million years did she think that Draco Malfoy would ever feel anything other than revulsion for her. "So where does this leave us?" She asked.

"That depends on what you're feeling doesn't it?"

Hermione turned towards him and met his mercurial gaze, "I'm not sure Draco. I mean this is all so confusing."

He smiled faintly at her, "Well I guess that answers both our questions." She looked at him with a puzzled expression. "If you are this confused and unsure of what you want then I suggest we let things go back to normal. You'll go back to being a Gryffindor and we'll continue to nod politely at each other in class."

Pain hit Hermione in the chest. Was this what she wanted? Just because she wasn't sure she wanted a relationship with him didn't mean that she wanted things to go back to how they had been in that month before McGonagall switched her house. "But what if I don't want that? Can't we be friends?"

Draco scoffed at her suggestion, "I have friends Granger. I don't need to add you to their ranks."

His outright rejection of her suggestion hurt. "If you like me then surely we can be friends."

"No Hermione. I'm not Weasley or Potter to harbour a secret desire for you and settle for your friendship. It's all or nothing in my world."

Hermione felt her temper rise, "But that's so bloody unreasonable. I'm confused about everything and you're giving me ultimatums."

Draco stood up and started pacing, "Maybe I seem harsh but you're the one who is cruel. Offering friendship when you know I have feelings for you. All that is going to do is make it harder for me to move on."

She walked over to him and put her hands on his chest to keep him still, "It wouldn't necessarily be like that. Friendship could turn into something more meaningful."

Draco cupped her cheek with his right hand, "Maybe that could happen but the fact that you are so keen to see the worst in me makes me think it won't."

"But I don't want to lose you completely," Hermione wailed

Draco smiled wryly, "Don't worry, I've got your back for when Pothead and the overgrown orang-utan let you down."

Hermione felt too sad to even bother to raise an objection towards his insulting pet-names for her best friends, "So you'll help me out if I need it but won't be my friend."

"It's not that I won't be your friend Hermione, it's that I can't be your friend. I want something more and if you can't give me that then I don't want to hang out and study for potions in the library. The decision is really yours."

"But I don't know what I want. I don't know what I feel for you. I'm not sure I can get into something with you whilst I'm so unsure of myself."

"Then you have your answer Hermione."

Hermione frowned and looked up at Draco sadly, "Is this it then?"

"I guess so," Draco said leaning down and giving Hermione the sweetest kiss imaginable. She leaned into him savouring the contact but he pulled away all too soon, kissed her forehead and walked out the room.

Hermione groped behind her until she felt a bed to collapse on. Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?

**AN: I have a feeling lots of you will be cursing Hermione right now and screaming that yes she has just made a massive mistake.**

**A big thank you also to VegaFLoyd for 'Hurricane Pansy', I had planned her reaction to be different but I couldn't resist rewriting it when I read your review as I loved the idea!**

**A quick question: What's been your favourite bit so far in the story?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Hello, a post for you all on my birthday. A big thank you to you all for continuing to read, review, alert and favourite.**

****Please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes. I've checked it over several times but am tired so may have missed things.****

**Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling otherwise Hermione's love life would have been a hell of lot more interesting.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

_Hogwarts Grounds_

The next two weeks passed in a haze of misery for both Draco and Hermione. They couldn't avoid each other being partnered in several classes, having to share the same common room and their friends having let bygones be bygones, started dating and hanging out together. It wasn't even that unusual to see a group consisting of Harry, Ron and Draco these days, although it would be stretching it to say that Draco participated much when their groups merged into that particular dynamic. He tended to sneer disdainfully from the sidelines and get snarky.

"Oh joy, Scarhead and the Weasel are gracing us with their presence," Draco sarcastically drawled at Blaise, as Ron and Harry started to stroll over to where they sitting by the lake, making the most of a rare sunny winter day.

"Hey, that's my brother, be nice," Ginny said

"Thanks for reminding me that you're related to the Ginger Oaf. Why do I put up with her again?" Draco asked Blaise.

"Because I'm the only one stupid enough to be your best mate and you do it for me," Blaise replied.

"Yeah, that's not doing it for me at the moment. The redhead's alright by herself, but if she comes with those particularly unpleasant accessories, then I may have to reconsider allowing her near me."

"You do realise I'm right here don't you," Ginny pointed out, "Besides, if it hasn't escaped your notice, Hermione is Harry and Ron's best friend but yet you still wanted to date her."

Draco glared at Ginny and Blaise was spared the trouble of smoothing over whatever nasty comment he was about to fling at Ginny with the arrival of Harry and Ron. "Hi, guys, what are you up to?" Harry asked.

"Oh nothing much, just waiting for the blessing of your chosen presence to complete our day," Draco sniped. "Blaise, come and find me when you've come to your senses," He said to his friend before walking off.

"What's his problem? I thought he was promoting this 'love all houses _including_ Slytherins' thing McGonagall is currently pushing on us," Ron asked.

Blaise just sighed, "Ignore him. He always gets unpleasant when he doesn't get his way. Or blame Hermione, whichever you prefer."

"So we have to put up with this until Hermione decides to stop denying her feelings and realises she likes him back?" Harry asked, worrying about how much time he had to spend with this new, more like the old Draco due to Pansy.

"Pretty much," Blaise replied.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Library<em>

Hermione dealt with her misery by withdrawing into her studies with a frantic energy that had Madam Pince ducking for cover whenever Hermione entered the library. Harry and Ron were disbelieving when she started drawing them all revision time-tables for NEWTs. "But, Hermione, it's not even Christmas yet?"

"You can never start revising too early, Ronald. This is our final year, our NEWTs need to be immaculate and we're already a year behind our peers from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, who didn't have their school taken over by a maniacal bunch of Death Eaters."

Harry just rolled his eyes and kept his head down, lest Hermione notice that he was devising a new Quidditch strategy for their game against the Hufflepuffs, rather than writing his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay like she thought he was.

Hermione narrowed her eyes dangerously when she heard Ron muttering "God, just go and find the ferret, snog him and put us all out of our misery."

"What was that, Ronald?"

The red head gulped, gazed towards Harry who was too busy stifling his laughter to be much help, "Er, nothing, Hermione. Just going over my Charms notes," Ron stuttered.

"I thought so," Hermione said menacingly, before turning her attention once more to Transfiguration.

Harry and Ron shared a glance before Harry sighed and nodded. Ron had asked him days ago to round up the troops so they could stop being unwitting bystanders to the destructive stubbornness of their friends. Harry had protested, not really wanting to get caught in the Malfoy-Granger crossfire, but Hermione really was getting unbearable. The situation was also beginning to affect his own relationship as Pansy was getting increasingly miserable at the plight of her egotistical best friend. She'd taken to spending all her time discussing ways in which to meddle and bring the Gryffindor and Slytherin together. Harry would rather not see Hermione date Malfoy, but he had to admit that it was obvious that she was pining for the git. Besides he already had to put up with him thanks to Pansy, so if Hermione got together with him it wouldn't make much difference. Indeed, it might even improve the situation because at least Malfoy would be happy and wouldn't feel the need to infect everyone else with his bad temper and snarky comments like he currently did.

Ron and Harry escaped as soon as they could from Hermione and the library. "Harry, I know you're not keen, but this is getting ridiculous. If I have Hermione shout at me one more time for not completing an essay due in three weeks time, I'm going to stupefy her.

"I know, I know but its Malfoy. Do you really wish him on Hermione?"

"No, but sadly, she does. She's just too bloody stubborn to admit it."

"Alright, I'll speak to Pansy and Ginny. We'll round up the snakes and come up with some sort of plan."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

By Thursday, the Slytherins and Gryffindors were grouped around the fire in the Slytherin common room. "Why did we have to choose here?" Ron moaned.

"Because, you dolt, we can clear our common room of the younger years whereas you wimps can't," Theo responded.

Harry shifted, deeply uncomfortable with his dour surroundings. "How do you cope spending so much time in here?" He whispered to Pansy. She just smirked at him.

"Are you dunderheads quite finished arguing amongst yourselves? If I wanted to watch Gryffindors and Slytherins argue, I would have my portrait placed in the Great Hall," Snape snapped.

"Why is he here again?" Ron asked

Snape rolled his eyes, "Why am I not surprised that you still don't have more than two brain cells to rub together, Weasley," the snarky ex-Professor bit back.

"Because he's Draco's Godfather, Ron," Pansy replied, "Now, if we can all stop moaning about location and attendees, it would be good to start working out how to get Hermione to stop being so stupidly stubborn.

"I vote for locking them in a broom cupboard. They'll end up having to get it on," Blaise suggested.

Snape sighed, "How you ended up in my house, Zabini, I'll never know."

Theo and Daphne sniggered at the wounded Italian. A sarcastic Snape was always good for entertainment value. Ginny fired up in defence of her boyfriend, "That wasn't a bad idea and I don't see you making any suggestions."

"This requires subtlety, Miss Weasley, not something associated with your house or indeed, your family."

Ginny went bright red with fury. It wasn't fair that you couldn't hex portraits because if you could then Snape would have been on the end of a very powerful bat-bogey hex. Blaise put his arm around her and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down.

Pansy looked to take control once more. "Ok, enough with the petty bickering. We have an arrogant pureblood and a stubborn muggle-born to unite. We need to focus people."

"I'm not sure what's worse, Draco in manipulative mode or Pansy being a control freak," Theo muttered to Ron.

The redhead nodded in agreement, "Just be grateful Hermione isn't here."

"They will never speak to each other voluntarily now they've decided on this course of action," Daphne pointed out, "Draco's too private and proud and Hermione's too embarrassed and stubborn. So we have to find a way to make them speak to each other."

Harry smiled, "The only way you'll get Hermione to speak to someone she doesn't want to, is to make her angry."

"Ok," Blaise said, "We need to get Hermione mad enough at Draco that she'll storm up to him and start a blazing row."

"The problem is that Draco doesn't push any of Hermione's buttons any more," Theo remarked, "I mean it's pretty unrealistic that he's going to call her a mudblood or say she's unattractive when he's shown that he doesn't think either of those things anymore."

"I think I have the perfect plan," Pansy smirked at the rest of the group, who looked worriedly at her.

"Oh God, Pans, you have your evil face on which means this is going to be truly painful for both of them," Blaise said.

Pansy smiled sweetly at Blaise, "Why, Blaise, sweetie, I'm sure I don't know what you mean," she said with faux innocence.

Theo grimaced, "I'm not sure I want to be a part of this if Pansy is looking and behaving like that."

The Gryffindors just looked puzzled. They hadn't seen this side of Pansy up in the tower and the reaction of her fellow Slytherins was deeply unsettling for them. Daphne leaned over and stage whispered to them, "When Pansy looks like this, it means she has come up with a diabolical plan. I actually pity Draco and Hermione right now."

Pansy started to get annoyed, "Look, do you want to hear the plan or not?"

"Yes," the mixed group of Gryffindors and Slytherins shouted back.

"So, we've all agreed that it will take something big to get Hermione to start to speak to Draco again. He's not going to revert to his old behaviour so we need to try something drastic, something that will rip Hermione apart and cause her to realise that she really does like Draco."

Her captive audience nodded back at her, "I got thinking, what is the one thing that will upset Hermione the most?" she asked.

"Oh I know, I know," Blaise said, jumping up and down with his hand in the air like a small child, "We burn the library down and finger Draco as the culprit."

Pansy rolled her eyes, "Severus is right Blaise, and how the hell did you end up not being a Hufflepuff with ideas that dumb?" Blaise pouted at her whilst the rest of the Slytherins sniggered at him. The Gryffindors looked vaguely alarmed at the direction the conversation was taking. There was no-way McGonagall would condone the burning down of the library.

As if performing Legilimancy on them, Pansy sarcastically said, "Don't worry, little Gryffindors, we're not going to burn down the library or commit any other sort of criminal damage. And we won't be fingering Draco for anything," Pansy glared at Blaise. "We're looking for Hermione to blame someone else otherwise she'll never forgive Draco, not to get Draco expelled and Hermione to fully support his leaving."

"So are you ever going to share with us what you're scheming?" Theo asked.

Pansy's evil grin returned, "We're going to slip Draco a love potion and watch Hermione squirm as he woos someone else for twenty-four hours. Then it's going to come out that he was under a love spell and we're going to watch Hermione go on the warpath to avenge her man."

The group gasped as they took in the sheer brilliance of Pansy's plan. "The only thing we need is a fall guy who Hermione will believe is capable of such behaviour and I can't think of anyone."

Harry shared a mischievous look with Ron and Ginny, "I think I might know the perfect person. In fact, she has previous and Hermione will certainly believe she is capable of doing such a thing. In fact, our dear Ron here was one of her victims."

Ron shuddered, "Please, Harry, I'd rather you didn't remind me of the prat I made of myself, even if it was only for a short while, and only in front of you and Professor Slughorn."

The Slytherins looked intrigued now, "Are you ever planning on sharing with the rest of us or not," Pansy huffed impatiently.

"Romilda Vane," Ron and Harry both shouted at the same time.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope Pansy's plan was suitably evil enough for you all. Also, I'd love to beat my record of 27 reviews for one chapter, so please, my many lovely but silent readers, review, let me know what you likedislike about the story and it'll make a great birthday present for me.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Thank you all for your lovely reviews. We hit 29 which was amazing and it was fantastic to hear from so many new reviewers. **

**Disclaimer: I'm still not JK Rowling.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

_The Great Hall_

Blaise and Theo watched intently as Draco absent-mindedly opened the package that had just been dropped off for him at breakfast. He wasn't paying much attention to what he was opening, instead he was trying not to look at the curly haired witch, who was focusing intently on her bowl of cereal, just down the table from him. The two Slytherins gave themselves an under-table high-five as Draco popped one of the chocolates into his mouth. Blaise turned to the Gryffindor table where 4 pairs of eyes were also glued to the actions of the grey eyed blond. Knowing that Hermione's sharp eyes weren't paying any attention either, Blaise gave a thumbs up and blew a kiss to Ginny. His attention was rudely brought back to the Slytherin table by Draco grabbing his shoulder roughly and shaking it. "Blaise, you know the Gryffindors quite well don't you?"

"I know one Gryffindor quite well, yes," Blaise said with a wink.

"Never mind that," Draco said impatiently, "Which one is Romilda Vane? Will you introduce me to her?"

Blaise swore under his breath as he realised that neither he, Theo or Daphne had bothered to get Ginny to point out who Romilda Vane was. "Er, I'm not sure which one she is, mate. I'll ask Ginny to introduce you."

"No need, Ginny's leaving. I'll go and ask her now," Draco said, frantically rushing over the red-headed girl.

"Ginny, Ginny, wait up," he called out.

The youngest Weasley turned round, surprised to see Draco running over in a very undignified way. Harry and Ron seemed less surprised and much more amused. "Hey, Ginny, can you introduce me to Romilda Vane? I would go over but I'm not sure who she is. All I know is that she is beautiful and I love her."

Ginny stared at Draco, bugged eyed and started to feel a little uneasy about their plan of action. Ron and Harry stood there sniggering at him. "Hey, Malfoy, don't worry, I know who Romilda is. I'll point her out to you," Ron said smothering his laughter.

Draco smiled goofily at Ron, "Thanks, mate, you're the best." Ron pointed out Romilda Vane and started guffawing as he watched Draco eagerly go over to introduce himself.

"Pansy, this plan of yours is brilliant. I don't think I've laughed so hard at Malfoy since the ferret incident in fourth year. Indeed, this may even supplant that image as my new favourite memory of him," Ron said.

Pansy and Ginny shared a worried look. They hadn't actually thought about what Draco would be like under the influence of a love potion and so far he was behaving very erratically and un-Malfoy like. "I hope he never finds out it was us," Pansy whispered to Ginny.

Ginny nodded, "I don't fancy being cut up into squid size chunks," she said as she saw Draco join the group of fifth-year Gryffindor girls.

"Romilda?" Draco asked the black haired girl.

"Yes," she replied, a little unsure of why the seventh-year Slytherin was addressing her.

"Could I speak to you a minute, alone?"

"Er, sure," she answered hesitantly. He didn't look too good, he was very pale and his eyes had a glazed look. He slightly resembled the mess he'd been in her fourth-year. She looked puzzled towards her friends who were all shrugging their shoulders. Fuck it, she thought, this might be my only chance to talk to the sexy Slytherin, crazy ex-Death Eater or not.

Draco gulped and wiped his palms against his robes. They were sweaty which was baffling for him. He was never this nervous talking to girls, not even when he'd confessed his feelings to Hermione. Not that those feelings compared at all to what he was feeling for Romilda. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a girl, she was … well… he wasn't really sure what she was because he didn't know her but he wanted that to change. However, she was perfect, of that he was definitely sure. "I was wondering if you wanted to come for a walk with me after classes today, you know, like a date?"

Romilda was completely confused now. She had admired Draco Malfoy from afar, which girl in Hogwarts hadn't, especially this year as he'd filled out and had that reformed bad boy thing going on.

"I thought you were dating Hermione Granger?"

Draco grimaced, "Who'd want to date her when they could have you as their girlfriend. She's nothing compared to you, you are stunning."

Romilda preened. Wait until she got back to her friends and shared with them every single word Malfoy had just said. She flashed him her biggest smile, "Sure, I'd love to go for a walk with you. What time shall we meet?"

"Let's meet here after classes are finished. I can't wait," Draco said and kissed her hand. Romilda beamed as she skipped over to her staring friends. She was already dreaming of becoming the next Mrs Malfoy with untold riches at her fingertips.

Hermione looked on in shock as she saw Draco kiss Romilda Vane's hand. What was that all about? Since when did Draco go around kissing random girls' hands? She looked at Daphne who gave her a small smile and shook her head in disbelief.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Grounds<em>

By the end of classes, Hermione was as confused as hell by Draco's actions. They were so bizarre that they had pulled her out of her moribund existence and she now watched on with morbid fascination. Her heart seemed to splinter a little more every time she saw Draco running after Romilda Vane of all people. If his behaviour after breakfast hadn't been strange enough, he'd burst into the Great Hall at lunch with a bunch of late autumn wildflowers he'd picked from the Hogwarts grounds. He'd given them to Vane with a flourish that had the rest of the school laughing at him. He then proceeded to moon all over her instead of eating. Romilda Vane, of course, was enjoying all the attention. She wasn't sure how, but she'd seemed to have tamed the Slytherin Prince, made all the more noteworthy because she'd taken him from Hermione Granger. Hermione, knowing what a shallow and vain girl Romilda was, was seething both at the perceived slight to her and the very real pain she was feeling at seeing Draco moving on. This is why she was currently sitting with a good view of the lake, watching Draco woo a very giggly Vane. Hermione narrowed her eyes in annoyance as the fifth-year threw her arms around Draco's neck and proceeded to snog him enthusiastically.

"Sickening isn't it," Pansy remarked as she flopped down on the grass next to Hermione. "I don't think I've ever seen Draco behave this way."

Mentally Hermione told Pansy where to stick it. Out loud, she made a non-committal reply.

"How are you holding up?" Pansy asked

Hermione internally growled as she prepared her voodoo doll of Vane, but externally she just turned to Pansy, smiled and said "It's not like I have any claim to Draco. He's free to see whoever he likes."

Pansy smirked as she saw the fire in Hermione's eyes. Yeah, right, sweetheart, keep telling me that whilst you make plans to rip that annoying, bugged-eyed bitch limb from limb. "I guess. I'm just not used to him running after a girl the way he is right now."

"I guess there is a first time for everything. Good luck to them both. It's nice to see a couple in love after all the death and destruction of the past few years," Hermione was amazed that she even managed to get that out without choking in fury.

Pansy raised her eyebrows in admiration for Hermione's off-hand tone. Damn, the girl was good at hiding her real feelings. Pansy still smiled to herself. She didn't think it would be long before Hermione cracked with the way she was currently clenching her fists and tensing her jaw.

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Girls Dormitory<em>

That night Hermione was close to breaking point. The sight of Draco continuing to run after Romilda Vane and sacrifice his dignity was annoying for her. A couple of years ago she would have loved this. The sight of the mighty Malfoy brought low but right now she was in agony. She had realised, at some point a few hours ago during her sleepless night, that she was crazy in love with him and she'd lost her chance to be with him. She wished she could regain her time-turner from her third year. She wanted to be able to go back to the night he'd poured his heart out, well as much as a Malfoy could, to her in his dormitory room. She knew exactly how she'd respond now, she'd grab hold of him both hands and never let go. Instead she was stuck in this hell, listening to Daphne, Millicent Bullstrode and Tracey Davis sleeping whilst she was lying awake castigating herself for her stupid behaviour. Hermione couldn't even kid herself that she'd be ok with Draco moving on, as long as it was with someone worthy like Luna Lovegood. As much as she had little to no respect for Romilda Vane, that wasn't the point, she would hate anyone that Draco was with. The fact that he was running around after her, like a love sick puppy, was just rubbing salt into her very open, weeping wounds.

Hermione sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and turned onto her back. She gazed at the canopy above her head and wished the hopeless feeling away. It was no use, if she thought she had been miserable before, it was nothing compared to her current despair. Did she have some kind of self-destructive mode? She seemed incapable of realising that she liked a boy until he'd got himself another girlfriend. At least with the Ron situation in their sixth-year, he'd also been unable to confront his feelings but Draco had. He'd been up front and told her wanted a real relationship. But she, like the fool she was, had spurned his offer, had made them both miserable for weeks and now was reaping the seeds of her silly decision. Hermione spent a blissful ten minutes day-dreaming about poisoning Romilda Vane before giving up completely on sleep and settling down to read _Hogwarts: a History_ to soothe her troubled soul.

* * *

><p><em>The Potions Classroom<em>

Hermione was dreading this lesson. She'd been able to avoid coming face to face with Draco since he had taken up with Vane. But for the next two hours she was stuck sitting in close proximity to him. It was going to be torture knowing now that she loved him. Was this what it had been like for Draco for the last couple of weeks? No wonder he had turned down her offer to be friends. To love someone and not have them return your affections was painful. To have that person then shoved in your face as a constant reminder of what you cannot have was excruciating. Now Hermione was going to have this for the rest of the year. She couldn't even properly escape when she went back to be a Gryffindor because Romilda would be there flaunting her relationship with Draco, boasting about the latest thing he bought her. Thinking about the hell that was going to be, Hermione curled her hands into fists that then cut into her palms when she heard Draco scrap his chair back to sit down. Hermione silently hallelujah-ed that they were currently not on speaking terms. She couldn't bear to hear all about how happy he was. She bent over her Potions book, idly flipping through as she waited for Slughorn to arrive. She could hear Draco humming away to himself, sounding more cheerful than anyone had the right to be in her vicinity at the moment. Hermione then recognised what he was singing and wanted to vomit. What the hell? When did Draco Malfoy like Celestina Warbeck? Hermione tried her hardest not to giggle as she recognised the song he was singing along to as _A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love_. This was mentally disturbing.

Hermione looked down on the page she had stopped at in shock at Draco's antics. It was the page on _Amortentia_. Hermione snorted as she remembered Harry repeating Ron's amusing behaviour when he'd been under the influence of the weaker love potion sold by the Weasley twins in their sixth-year. Hermione was always quite sad that she'd missed that episode, despite the fact that she would have been hopping mad at seeing him go all loopy over Romilda Vane, on top of him dating Lavender Brown. Hermione paused and stared down at the page in confusion for a few minutes. No, it couldn't be. Her mind was mentally whirling at the possibility. It all made sense if you looked at it that way, and Hermione was as logical as they came. She peaked up at Draco out of the corner of her eye, he didn't look right. In fact, now she was sitting close to him, it was practically screaming out at her. He was so pale, paler than usual if possible, his eyes were glazed over as if he was in a daze and he was twitchy as if he was having trouble sitting still. His behaviour had also been so out of character. Draco Malfoy didn't chase girls around, they chased him. Or they had been this year in any case. He'd never shown the remotest interest in Romilda Vane or any fifth-year girl outside of Slytherin. Had he even ever spoken to her? Romilda would have been bragging all over Gryffindor Tower if he had done so this year, and the Malfoy of previous years wouldn't have been seen dead chatting to a Gryffindor. She also couldn't imagine Draco sitting listening to _The Witching Hour_ to hear Celestina Warbeck songs. No boys her age liked that type of music, not even the most effeminate boy at Hogwarts. Romilda Vane had previous too. It was the kind of thing she'd do in order to be with the popular boy of the time. It'd been Harry when he was the Chosen One, it could quite easily be Draco now he was so popular with the girls. Hadn't Draco received chocolates at breakfast yesterday? She'd seen him opening them when she'd been desperately concentrating on her cereal rather than him. And then right afterwards, she seen him talking to Vane and kissing her hand. That was rather too convenient for Hermione's liking. It was strange that none of his friends had noticed the difference though. Yes Pansy had said how unlike Draco it was but she hadn't been suspicious at all, and neither were Blaise and Theo. Surely they knew Draco better than anyone, how come they hadn't noticed him behaving so oddly?

Hermione spent the rest of Potions working on the surface only. Her mind was going over the ramifications of what she thought she had discovered. She needed to catch the other seventh-year Slytherins to see what they thought. At least it wouldn't be hard to get Draco out of the way. He'd be languishing over Romilda Vane. Hermione laughed as she thought about how angry he was going to be when he snapped out of his potion induced obsession. She didn't fancy being Romilda then. Cheered up by this prospect, Hermione completed her potion and handed it into Slughorn with a big smile.

* * *

><p><em>The Great Hall<em>

"Hey guys, wait up." Hermione called out to seventh-year Slytherins. They turned around in shock. She'd been so busy wallowing in her misery over the last few weeks that she hadn't actively sort them out since her conversation with Draco. Well, there was also the fact that he had been with them most of the time too.

"Hey, lovely, you look happier all of a sudden," Blaise said cheekily.

Hermione rolled her eyes but refrained from responding to that. "Listen, I wanted to speak to you about Draco." They shifted uncomfortably as if they were expecting an angry outburst from her, possibly a hex or two. "Don't you think he's been acting strangely recently?" she asked.

"He's in love," Theo offered as an explanation.

"Yes, he's in love but this is still _Draco Malfoy_. Have you ever known him to pick wildflowers for a girl and make a complete spectacle of himself in front of the whole school? Had he ever even spoken to Romilda Vane before yesterday?"

"Not that I'm aware of and yes, he's behaving a little odd but that's what people do when they fall in love," Blaise said.

"He was singing _A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love _during Potions," Hermione said, causing Theo to spit out his Pumpkin juice. "I didn't realise Draco was such a big Celestina Warbeck fan. Did Theo sing popular, middle-aged witch love songs to you Daphne? I know from Ginny that Blaise is sadly lacking if this is what passes as romantic today."

Daphne giggled at the thought of Theo singing Celestina Warbeck songs to her, "No, thankfully. I think I'd break up with him if he ever did that."

"Ok, so that is odd. What are you thinking Granger?" Blaise asked.

"It came to me in Potions. He's been acting insane and obsessive and over a girl he's never noticed before. He has to be under the influence of _Amortentia_ or something similar." Hermione was so busy watching Draco squeeze himself next to Romilda Vane on the Gryffindor table that she missed the look the other three Slytherins shared. "Look at him, Blaise, you're dating a Gryffindor but I don't see you sitting at their table. It just doesn't happen. No-one switches house tables unless you are Luna Lovegood. And have you seen him recently? He's so pale, and before you open that mouth of yours with a smart arse comment Zabini, he's paler than usual and his eyes are glazed over."

"I think you might be onto something Hermione. I mean we've just left it because we thought it might be a reaction to well," Theo cleared his throat nervously, "To you rejecting him. We thought he just might be on a really strange rebound relationship."

"God, you guys are rubbish friends. The poor boy might well have been under this potion for years had it been left up to you to notice something was wrong."

"Do you have any plans to help Draco?" Daphne hurriedly asked, looking to get away from the subject of who had brewed the potion. "You know how difficult and potentially dangerous it can be to try and interfere with someone under the influence of _Amortentia_."

"Don't worry. I think I have worked out the food in which the love potion was concealed. He received a box of chocolates yesterday morning at breakfast and after eating one he was off after Vane. Theo and Blaise, I need you to find that box of chocolates and remove it so he cannot ingest any more _Amortentia_. Can you do that?"

"Yes," they both answered

"Then, Daphne, I need you or Pansy to lure Draco to a place I will inform you of later. We're going to keep him locked up until he's no longer under the effect of the potion. This will also give me an opportunity to deal with Vane," Hermione looked positively ecstatic at the thought.

"Sounds like you have this well thought out," Daphne remarked.

"Yep, I spent the whole of Potions thinking it through. We need to make sure we cover all aspects because, as you already noted, Draco is unstable and could be a threat to any plans to help him. So are you clear on your roles?"

"I think we're intelligent enough to follow your orders," Blaise said. Hermione just raised a questioning eyebrow. Blaise grinned at her and repeated, "Theo and I have to get the chocolates. Daphne has to lure an obsessive and unstable Draco to where you want him."

"Good, glad you can understand simple instructions. I hope you can follow them as easily. Alright, I'm off to sort out a place to keep Draco," Hermione said, getting up and leaving the Slytherin table.

"So who will wear the trousers in their relationship?" Theo asked, "They're both as bossy and irritating as each other."

"Who did you expect Draco to choose? A brainless ninny? He needs someone like Hermione to keep his tyrannical side in check," Daphne pointed out.

"Remind me to send my kids to Durmstrang if those two have any offspring. Their spawn will rule Hogwarts unbearably," Theo said.

* * *

><p><em>The Library<em>

Blaise caught up with the Gryffindor contingent of the plan to fill them in on what had happened over lunch at the Slytherin table. He sauntered over to the table that they were studying at, "Thanks for keeping Draco occupied at your table over lunch," He said.

"Why?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Hermione's onto the plan." Blaise caught Ginny and Pansy looking worriedly at each other, "Oh, don't worry, she doesn't think we had anything to do with it yet. She firmly believes that Romilda Vane is behind the whole thing. But she knows that Draco is under a love potion."

"What's she planning?" Ron asked.

"Well, she's given us orders to remove the rest of the infected chocolates and Daphne, and possibly you too Pansy, are to get Draco to go somewhere of her choosing. She's going to inform us of where later."

Harry shrugged, "At least she doesn't suspect us. But what is she planning on doing to Malfoy?"

"I believe she's on the same wave-length as me," Blaise said smugly. "She's going to lock him up until the effects wear off. What's the betting she locks herself in there with him? To keep an eye on him and make sure he's ok, of course. See, a broom closet was a good idea."

Pansy sniggered, "Wouldn't surprise me. She was looking pea-green with envy at Vane kissing Draco by the lake yesterday."

The Gryffindors looked at each other, debating whether to defend Hermione or not to the cynical Slytherins. They all realised that, without a doubt, she'd look to be locked in with Draco but because she'd be concerned about his safety. Ginny decided to give it a try, "Hermione actually will be worried about Malfoy. She'll want to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. She'll also want to explain her theory when he pulls out of his love-induced haze."

Blaise and Pansy just smirked at each other, "Sure, keep telling yourself that," Blaise drawled sarcastically.

"Blaise Zabini, are you doubting my ability to understand the motives of one of my best friends?" Ginny huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

Ron backed up, recognising what he called Ginny's Molly Weasley tendency. Blaise, not knowing the Weasley matriarch, and also being supremely confident in his ability to handle women, just continued to smile infuriatingly at Ginny. "Of course I don't doubt you, honey."

"It seems as if you are, you're being patronising and irritating. Not everyone's mind is in the gutter likes yours permanently is and Hermione's certainly isn't."

Harry, Ron and Pansy backed away, they had no desire to be pulled into this couple's quarrel. They'd already bitten off more than enough with Hermione and Draco. Besides, Ginny was a scary sight when she was angry as it appeared Blaise was about to find out.

* * *

><p><em>Head Students &amp; Prefect Office<em>

Hermione walked away from her quick chat with Neville and Hannah smiling. Her plans were all falling into place nicely. She had the perfect place to keep Draco safe and away from that crazy cow, Romilda long enough for the potion to pass out of his system. She'd also rearrange their patrolling schedules so that they wouldn't be needed for the next couple of days. All in all, Hermione was in a much better frame of mind than she had been this morning, before Potions. She looked forward to her afternoon classes with glee, feeling back to her happy, cheerful self. She was in control once more and she'd make Romilda Vane pay for messing with her Draco.

**AN: How are you feeling about Hermione's reactions? I personally think she'd realise how she felt about Draco when she saw him with another girl (as she did with Ron). I also think she's passionate and loyal to those she cares about so definitely would react in such a feisty way to Draco being under a love potion. Also, a vengeful Hermione is a lot of fun to write. Leave me a review with your reactions and ideas. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: I know, I'm rubbish. I'm getting later and later with the updates but I had a massive problem getting motivated to write this week. My son and husband decided that they'd had enough of my obsession with the laptop and demanded attention which didn't help with the lack of motivation to write. But a big thank you to Aluminesa whose timely review got me in gear and I did lots of writing today.**

**Please excuse any grammatical mistakes and typos. I was so excited to actually get something written that I wanted to publish pretty much straight away, so I've only done a quick edit. **

**Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling and make no money from manipulating Draco and Hermione into a relationship.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

_Slytherin Common Room_

Daphne channelled her much hidden, inner bravery gene. She was about to trick a love potion induced Draco Malfoy. A very unstable and sickeningly obsessive Draco Malfoy. Her Slytherin tendencies were screaming at her to back away now and leave the crazy rescue plans to those suited to them, notably Gryffindors, and in this particular case, curly haired Gryffindors brunettes called Hermione Granger. Daphne swallowed her self-preservation instincts. Besides, she wasn't too sure who she was most scared off yet, what Draco could possibly do to her if he realised she was lying to him about Vane waiting for him, or what this new and scarily vengeful Hermione would do if she didn't follow her plan precisely as ordered. Daphne decided she'd take her chances with Draco. Better the devil you know than crazy war heroines who were all too quick with painful hexes. Daphne walked over to the blond, former Slytherin prince, current Gryffindor love-slave. Was that a locket of Romilda's hair he was wearing around his neck? Daphne gagged, someone pass the sick bucket.

"Hey, Draco, your girlfriend asked me to tell you to meet her up in the Prefect's office."

Draco sat up and smiled at her, "Romilda? She's waiting for me?"

"Yep, she said that she needs to see you urgently. I just bumped into Pansy who's been looking for you."

"Oh, thank you, Daphne," Draco said before running out of the common room.

It spoke volumes for how mind altering and dangerous Amortentia was that the usually sharp witted Malfoy hadn't even asked why Romilda was even allowed in the Prefect's office considering she wasn't a prefect. Daphne would breathe a sigh of relief when they had the normal Draco back. Even if he was going to be horrible when he realised what a prat he'd made out of himself over the last few days. The younger years were never going to be as scared of him again now they'd seen him acting like a lovesick fool. Daphne wiped a hand over her brow. Her part in this insane plan was over.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Draco grinned as he thought of his new, perfect girlfriend. He couldn't understand how he'd never noticed her before. She was everything he wanted in a girl. She was clingy, giggly and hung on to every word he said. He scoffed at his former notions of wanting a girl who could think for herself and didn't agree with every stupid thing he uttered. Thank goodness he'd come to his senses, otherwise he may well have ended up with that walking banshee, Granger. She was an annoying know-it-all who would have made his life a misery with her ability to have original thoughts and actually possessing a brain. Draco whistled as he walked jauntily along, anticipating snogging Romilda senseless.

The Prefect office door was closed and the office dark, Draco peaked his head around, "Romilda? Sweetie, where are you?"

There was no answer. Draco smirked, the little minx was hiding from him. She liked to play little games like this. Normally he'd find this irritatingly coy but for some reason when she did, he found it delightful. He strolled through the door and was completely unprepared for the full body bind hex that hit him. If he could have, he would have blinked several times in surprise. Instead he was forced to just stare as a brown, bushy head leant over him. "I'm sorry, Draco, but it's for the best."

* * *

><p><em>Prefects Office<em>

Hermione almost recoiled from the rage that was shooting out from Draco's eyes. Good job she had done her research on the side-effects of love potions and had been ready with body bind spell. The less time he had to react to her trickery, the easier it was to subdue him. Now she just had to keep him here until the potion wore off and he was back to his normal self. Hermione levitated him over to the comfortable chair she had prepared and tied him up. She made sure she had silenced him before releasing him from _Perfectus Totalus_. She couldn't afford for him to scream the place down and have nearby professors coming to release him from his captivity. It was a real shame that the Room of Requirement hadn't regenerated after being destroyed by Crabbe's Fiendfyre because that would have been the perfect place to hold Draco. Whilst Hermione had got Neville and Hannah to agree to her using the office for the next few days, until the potion wore off, there was no real guarantee that a nosy prefect wouldn't try and find out why the office was suddenly out of bounds. At least Hermione had planned for this to happen on Friday evening so neither of them were expected in lessons until Monday. She didn't think the potion would last very long without Draco eating more of the potion infused chocolates and fully expected to be able to release Draco by Sunday morning at the latest. Hermione sighed. She needed to explain to him why he was currently tied to a chair and under the _Silencio_ spell. By the angry looks that Draco was giving her, it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Draco, I know you must be wondering why I have attacked you and incarcerated you in the Prefects' office."

He nodded at Hermione in encouragement for her to continue. "Well, this isn't going to be easy to explain but I want you to be patient with me and hear me out. Is that ok with you?"

Draco nodded again in agreement. "You may not believe what I have to tell you but, please, just hear me out. You're currently under the influence of _Amortentia_."

Draco rolled his eyes and attempted to speak, opening his mouth several times like a goldfish with no sound coming out. He looked incredibly frustrated.

"If I take off the silencing spell will you behave normally and not start shouting?" Hermione asked.

Draco nodded again. He looked more than a little annoyed now. "What the fuck do you think you are playing at?" he hissed at Hermione.

Hermione twisted her hands. This was always going to be the weak spot in her plan. Getting Draco to listen to her at first was going to more than a little challenging. "I know this is drastic but Draco, you're under _Amortentia_."

Draco narrowed his eyes at Hermione, "Why would you think that? Are you jealous or something?"

"No, I'm not jealous, but I do want you to listen to me. You've been acting so out of character and since when did you have a thing for Romilda Vane?"

"This is sounding remarkably like sour grapes right now. I am meant to be so cut up over you that I can't move on and be with someone as amazing as Romilda?"

Hermione snorted at the last part of his sentence. "So you're basically trying to tell me that you've managed to fall head over heels in love with Vane in a couple of days, to the point that you are actually sitting at the Gryffindor table to be near her?"

"What's so hard to understand about that? She's a very special girl. She's beautiful and kind and caring."

"Right," Hermione said sarcastically, "Anything else you know about her?"

"So I don't know all there is to know yet. So fucking what? That's the point of being in a relationship isn't it, so you learn more about a person you care about."

"Usually you know at least something about her beforehand. Jesus, Malfoy, Ginny told me that you didn't even know who she was and wanted her to point her out to you. Isn't this ringing any alarm bells for you?"

"I think you need to shut up, Hermione. What have you got against Romilda? I think you're just jealous because someone actually wants to be with her. Not even the ginger monstrosity wants to be with you." Draco shouted at her, getting more and more wound up.

Hermione refused to let him anger her. She needed to keep calm. She knew this was the potion talking, not Draco. She was not going to let him upset her, no matter what hurtful things he threw at her.

"If you're going to shout then I'm going to have to silence you again."

"Do what the fucking hell you want. You're nothing but a jealous shrew who has it in for Romilda," Draco yelled.

Hermione sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought. Draco was hard-headed and stubborn at the best of times. He currently was channelling his inner-spoilt brat not seen in all its hideous glory since their fifth-year. At least, this time, it came without the blood related insults. Hermione used the _Silencio_ spell once more and Draco stared her with angry eyes.

Five hours later and the status quo was still in place. Hermione hadn't lifted the spell as yet. Instead, she sat in the corner and read. Every now and again, she checked on Draco. He was currently staring into space but she knew he was still in a rage as his jaw was tense and he clenching his fingers. She'd offered him food and water but he'd steadfastly ignored her. Around them, the castle was quiet. The curfew was in place and everyone was safely tucked up in their common rooms. Hermione thought it was a good opportunity to un-silence Draco. She knew that no real progress had been made yet but the silence was starting to get to her. "I'm going to end the spell now. Do you think you'll be able to talk without shouting at me?" Hermione asked

Draco didn't even bother looking at her. This was going to be a long night, Hermione thought as she lifted the spell. "Are you willing to listen to me?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, "It's not as if I can exactly stop you from talking seeing as you have my wand."

"Draco, can you just listen to me without getting angry or defensive this time?" There was no visible reaction from the Slytherin so Hermione took that as consent and continued. "If you think about think about this logically then you'll realise that you aren't truly in love with Romilda Vane and that this is just a spell. I mean had you ever even noticed her before?"

Draco continued to ignore her. At least he wasn't shouting this time but it still didn't seem as if Hermione was making any progress. He was refusing to look at her or give her the time of day. "Just think about it Draco."

Hermione turned back to her book and hoped that her words had sunk in a little.

Draco was getting stiff from sitting in one place. The all encompassing rage, that had caused him to shout, had left him somewhere around the third hour of his captivity. Now he was just waiting for the irritating witch to release him. Since she seemed intent on continuing her insane rants against Romilda, he'd decided not to give her the time of day. She hadn't opened her mouth since her last plea for him to believe her had fallen on deaf ears. That felt like days ago but in reality, from the sneaky looks he'd stolen at her watch, it was only two hours. He was getting bored and thirsty. Should he end his enforced silence and ask her for a drink? "Granger, I'm thirsty. Get me a drink," he demanded.

She raised her eyebrows in challenge at his tone but ultimately had to do as he asked as he couldn't exactly fetch himself a drink. He gulped thankfully at the glass she held against his lips. He was going to overlook the fact that this was a less than dignified position. His need for water overcame any will to remain a poised and elegant Malfoy right now. Once he'd finished drinking, he asked, "How long are you planning on keeping me here?"

"For as long as it takes," she replied. "I know you don't believe me at the moment but once the potion starts to wear off, you'll come back to your senses and you'll be grateful that I did this for you."

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be really pleased that you took me out, tied me up and took away my wand," he drawled sarcastically, "Oh and let us not forget the fact that you made me listen to your mad ramblings."

"Whine all you like, Draco, but in a few hours time, you'll see that I'm right."

"How long before this "potion" wears off?" Draco asked, using quotation marks around the word potion to show her how little he bought into her theory.

"Well, I have the rest of the chocolates that I believe were laced with the _Amortentia_, so I reckon, at the latest, another day. Although, Romilda has never been the strongest at potion making so realistically I think about six hours."

"So technically, you're going to keep me here until Sunday morning?"

"No, I think you'll be out by Saturday afternoon, after, of course, you have kissed my feet in thanks."

"In your dreams, Granger, the only feet I kiss are Romilda's."

"Ewwww, Draco, that is one image I don't want to picture."

There was silence for a while but Hermione could practically hear Draco's brain ticking over.

"I need to go to the bathroom," He said.

Hermione had been expecting this. She wasn't stupid and knew that Draco was trying to formulate an escape plan. She had already put the precautions in place, removing anything from the bathroom that he could use as a weapon, even the towels; she'd replaced them with paper napkins. "Sure, Draco, I'll just untie you," she said.

She saw him smirk in anticipation as he sauntered over to the tiny toilet, just off the office. Ten minutes later, he emerged with a massive scowl on his face. She smiled smugly at him, "You didn't think I'd be dumb enough to leave anything in there you could use against me. Wow, Draco, your association with Romilda is really beginning to rub off on you."

He said nothing; just shot her an infuriated glare as she tied him back up to the chair. The stalemate continued.

Saturday morning dawned bright and frosty. Hermione had nodded off about an hour ago. Draco was sitting stonily in his chair, refusing to close his eyes. However, he had spent the hours before sunrise contemplating what Hermione had said. Doubts were beginning to creep into his mind about his feelings for Romilda. Hermione definitely had a point. He'd never even noticed the girl until a few days ago, let alone had any desire to date her. At first, the part of him that remained blissfully attached the young Gryffindor, screamed insults at the other-side of his brain but, over the hours, that began to fade. He shook his head, trying to clear the conflicting thoughts away. He hated feeling this confused. It was like part of him was waking up from a very long sleep, with blurry images from the last few days teasing his memory like fading dreams. He no longer felt this all encompassing desire to spend every waking moment with Romilda. It was liberating in a way. It was almost as if he was returning to his body after inhabiting someone else's for a while. He felt as if his free will was coming back and that was so important to him after the hell he'd been through during the war. He never wanted to feel as he had during his sixth-year, as if he had no control over his life. His actions had been dictated by Voldemort and he had been completely helpless to refuse.

His previous feelings for Hermione too were beginning to resurface. He sat there, as the room got lighter, watching the curly haired brunette sleep thinking how beautiful she looked. There was no way, in any parallel dimension, that he'd choose the vacuous Romilda over Hermione Granger. Hermione constantly kept him on his toes, made him think and their conversations about magic and life in general entertained him for hours. She also managed to keep him in check, something no other girl had managed. With her, he couldn't get away with murder and he liked that. Her compassion was much needed by Draco, who could be callous and cruel if left to his own devices. He hadn't been brought up to think of others outside his social sphere and he was inclined to think too many people were beneath him. Hermione was the complete opposite. Her campaign for the better treatment for House Elves, once something for him to sneer at, was now something he adored about her. It highlighted how passionate she was about equality for all and needed someone like her in his life. He had a new hope that she was changing her mind about the possibility of being in a relationship with him. Only someone who cared deeply about him would go to the lengths she had tonight.

Hermione stirred, rubbing her eyes and moving her neck and shoulders in circles, trying to shift the aches and pains that had manifested due to her uncomfortable sleeping position. She yawned widely and squinted into the sunny room. It took her a while to work out where she was as she was dozy and groggy from getting too little sleep. She stretched her arms and legs out and then realised she had an audience. Draco was sitting in the same position he had been when she nodded off, looking as if he hadn't even moved. "Hi," she said shyly, a little embarrassed that she'd been sleeping in front of him.

He smiled at her, "Good morning, sleep well?"

Hermione grimaced, "About as well as you can on a hard, stone floor with a draughty window."

He smirked at her appearance but before he could comment she giggled at the look he was currently sporting. Hermione had never seen Draco Malfoy anything other than elegantly put together. At this precise moment in time, he had hair sticking out at all angles and a red patch on his cheek where he'd been resting his head on his hand. She wasn't going to let him know but she thought he looked more gorgeous than ever slightly mussed up. He scowled at her, "You've got a bit of dribble on your chin," he pointed out cruelly.

Hermione blushed and put her hand up to wipe away the non-existent drool and stuck her tongue out when she realised he'd lied. "Prat," she muttered.

Draco cleared his throat and looked down at his hands, "Ok, I know I'm going to regret this in roughly thirty seconds, but I wanted to say thank you."

Hermione looked shocked at first and then a beaming grin emerged on her face. "So I take it the _Amortentia_ has run its course?"

"It would appear so, one minute I was steaming angry at you for depriving me of Romilda Vane and the next minute doubts were creeping in."

"Well that's a relief. I was beginning to think that I may have to keep you locked up in here forever."

Draco raised his eyebrows, "Worried I'd have actually married the girl?" he teased.

Hermione just flushed and turned away biting her lip. Her actions to save him from sneaky Gryffindor love-cheats proved to Draco that she did care about him. Now all he had to do was get her to admit it.

"Ok, I might as well get the humiliation out of the way. How bad was I?"

Hermione tried to stifle a giggle unsuccessfully. "Let's just say that your reputation at this school will never be the same again."

Draco groaned, "That awful?"

Hermione simply nodded.

"The last few days are a bit muddled. I have vague memories of running after Vane like a lovesick fool."

"You definitely were out of character. It was actually the one thing that alerted me to the fact that you had to be under a love potion."

"Ok, stop dragging my misery out and just tell me what I did."

"Do you want the shortened version or the whole sorry story?" Hermione asked cheekily.

"Just hit me with it. I'm ready for all the gory details."

Hermione then proceeded to fill Draco in on his erratic behaviour. After she outlined the first day, his rushing over to Romilda Vane, Ron and Harry's amusement and the flowers given in front of the entire school, Draco sat there with his hands over his eyes. He was horrified. When he emerged from the Prefects' Office, he was going to be a laughing stock.

"So how come you are the only one who picked up on me behaviour," he asked when she finally finished.

Hermione wrinkled her nose, "I'm not really sure. I mean you were so different that I don't get how come none of your housemates pulled you aside to smack you around the head and ask what the hell you thought you were playing at. In fact, Pansy seemed almost excited for you."

Draco groaned, "She would, she's always nagging at me to find the right girl and fall in love."

"Yes, but Romilda is so blatantly not the right girl. Anyone in their right mind could see that. I know Pansy wants you to be happy, and not with just anyone, but with someone who fits your personality. I was so confused as to why your friends were sitting back and doing nothing to stop your crazy behaviour."

"Believe me, I will be having words with them."

"So, are you feeling ok to leave here now? You don't think you'll get any urges to jump on Romilda Vane as soon as you see her?"

"Only, if by jump on her, you mean beat the living daylights out of her for messing with my head like that."

Hermione laughed. "As a Prefect, Mr Malfoy, I will be forced to deduct house points if you undertake any such action," She said in a prissy voice.

"But you'd be penalising your own house, Miss Granger."

"As I am soon to be restored to the bosom of Gryffindor, I feel disinclined to care about the fate of Slytherin. Indeed, I will be pleased to see some balance restored after your massacre of Gryffindor's points, after discovering Harry and Pansy making out."

Draco smirked, "It was too good an opportunity to miss. I fear I may have to rediscover my inner tyrant and terrorise some first-years, in order to restore my damaged pride."

"Do that, Draco, and you will soon find yourself back in this office tied to that chair."

"Speaking of your current bondage fetish, are you ever planning on releasing me? I could do with stretching my legs."

"Oh, Draco, I completely forgot." Hermione rushed up and untied him.

Draco stood up and sighed in relief as his cramped muscles moved. He ached all over and was looking forward to a long soak in the Prefects' bathroom. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Wow, it's eleven. Times flies when you're having fun I guess."

"You may have been having fun, living out your fantasies of tying me up but I'm just hungry."

Hermione whacked him on the arm, "I do not fantasise about you, you git."

Draco leaned down and whispered in her ear, "It's perfectly alright to admit that I'm the man of your dreams, Hermione. You find yourself in good company with pretty much all the other girls in Hogwarts."

"Could you get any vainer? I swear your ego needs its own postcode."

"Just stating the facts. I can't help being so gorgeous that I have a detrimental effect on all women around."

"Yeah, you affect their gag reflexes."

Draco slung his arm around Hermione, tucking her into his side. "Jealously suits you, Granger. Green is definitely your colour."

She poked him in the side, "You're such a monumental prat at times."

"And you love me for it."

"Are you ever going to shut up?"

"Only if you make me."

Hermione did the one thing that she had been desperate to do since watching Draco run around after Romilda Vane. It seemed perfectly natural now she'd realised her true feelings for the blond Slytherin. She reached up, pulled him down and most definitely shut him up by kissing him.

**AN: Yay, they are back on track. I'm very proud of my almost 100% only Draco and Hermione chapter.**

**Please review, as I mentioned earlier, it really does make a difference in motivating me to write.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Thank you for all your continuing reviews, favourites and alerts. **

**Disclaimer: I'm still not JK Rowling**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

_Prefects' Office_

Draco didn't move for a split second, stunned at Hermione's actions. But his mind soon caught up and he grabbed her close, kissing her back. God, he'd missed this feeling. The butterflies in his stomach and the fact that his blood felt like molten lava as it surged around his body. Only Hermione had this affect on him. He groaned as she got even more adventurous and pushed her tongue into his mouth. He certainly could get used this assertive version of the Gryffindor girl. He had to admit that it was nice not to be the one doing all the chasing. The fact that she found him as irresistible as he found her was a definite turn-on.

Hermione enjoyed being the one in control. For all her bossy nature, she'd never been too confident around boys. She liked that Draco was allowing her to dictate the kiss; it made her feel a lot more self-assured about her abilities. She drew the kiss to a close and looked up at Draco, flushed and panting slightly.

"Mmmmm, I guess I'm going to be an annoying prat more often if that's how you're going to shut me up," Draco said, licking his lips and smirking.

Hermione blushed even harder, "Oh shut up!"

Draco grinned devilishly at her, "Make me," he retorted, winking at her and enjoying her obvious embarrassment as she growled at him.

"So, does this mean you're my girlfriend now?" He asked playfully.

"Woah, Casanova, no need to get too far ahead of yourself. I think you need to ditch your current girlfriend first."

Draco put his hand under Hermione's chin and tipped her face up, "Seriously now, Hermione, I'm not going to play games. If you don't want to anything to happen between us then you need to tell me now. But, be warned, if you do back out of this, that's it. I'm not going to chase after you and beg."

"God, Draco, do you have to make everything so hard? It's not as if I go around kissing the members of the male population of Hogwarts for a laugh. Yes, that was my declaration of intent. I like you and I want to be with you," Hermione said awkwardly.

Draco smiled softly, "There's no need to get embarrassed, Hermione. I just wanted to know where I stood. I like you, too," he said conversationally.

Hermione rolled her eyes and went to leave the office, "Hey, where are you going? I haven't finished with you yet," Draco complained and pulled her in for another kiss.

* * *

><p><em>The Slytherin Common Room<em>

The Slytherin seventh-years sat around the fire looking a little lost. "How long do you think it'll take for the potion to wear off?" Daphne asked. "It feels as if it's been ages already and I'm tired of being on tenterhooks about it."

Blaise shrugged, "It was an altered recipe, so I'm not sure."

"What do you mean altered? You fed Draco an altered recipe without even knowing how strong it was or how long it'd last? What if he never comes out of it? And who altered it? Why wouldn't you just use the conventional recipe? What if the person who gave you the alterations wants to hurt Draco?" Daphne shrieked, getting hysterical.

"Calm down, Miss Greengrass. Stop making such a spectacle of yourself. It's unbecoming, and need I point out, very un-Slytherin," Professor Snape drawled from his portrait. "It's my personal recipe and I highly doubt I want to harm my Godson in anyway."

"Oh," Daphne said feeling foolish.

"She does have a point though, sir. How long will the potion last once Draco stops eating the chocolates?" Theo asked, before saying as an aside to Blaise, "I can't believe we didn't think to ask when Severus gave us the changes."

"Have you quite finished, Mr Nott? Or don't you really want to hear my answer. I don't have all day to wait around and wait for you to finish your conversation," Snape said cuttingly.

"Although you are a painting, all you do is hang around," Blaise murmured. Theo stifled a laugh.

"What was that, Mr Zabini?"

"Nothing, sir."

Snape narrowed his eyes at him, wishing, once more, that he hadn't died. He could then give Zabini a week of detentions for his cheek. Snape missed swooping around the castle, frightening first years and terrorising the rest of the student body. He sighed as he reminisced about the good old days. "I altered the potion so that you could give it to Draco and it'd make him fall in love with whatever girl you chose. Normally, it'd have to be given to him by her to enable it to work. Obviously, I also wanted it to wear off quickly. That way Draco would be back to himself sooner rather than later." Although why his Godson wanted to be with that insufferable know-it-all he didn't understand. Then again, she did remind him slightly of Lily Evans. She had also been irritating, with an annoying habit of wanting to manage everyone around her.

"Oh good, then they should be back soon," Daphne said happily.

"If I'm not mistaken, they are on their way now. I believe I can hear Miss Granger's shrill voice even from here."

Blaise, Theo and Daphne said nothing but gave each other amused glances. They all knew the soft-spot Snape held for Hermione. He was immensely proud of her talent in Potions but lamented her bad taste in friends. They also knew that he'd only bother to help them with their plan if he approved of Hermione. He was notoriously protective of Draco, even if he had infuriated him when he was younger.

"So any of you going to tell why the hell you decided to let me run around Hogwarts looking like a tremendous prat for the last few days?" Draco asked when he and Hermione showed up in the common room a few minutes later.

"I'm sorry, were we meant to be able to tell the difference? Aren't you always an immense prat?" Theo shot back.

Draco gave him a steely glance. "Don't mess with me right now, Theo. I just had to put up with second-years coming up and teasing me about my behaviour._ Second-years_! Since when have they not been scared of me?"

Blaise and Theo said nothing and didn't even really try to hide the grins that covered their faces. Daphne shifted and cleared her throat, "Draco, we were just happy for you. I mean you were so cute and happy in love," She lied, crossing her fingers behind her back. God, he'd been creepy. She hoped she never had to see Draco behave that way again – ever.

"Malfoys are never cute, Daphne, not even as babies. And wearing some random girl's hair around my neck is not happy in love, it's certifiably crazy. That surely should have been your clue. Certainly should have been for those two bastards." Draco snarled, pointing at Theo and Blaise.

"Hey, it was funny. The great Draco Malfoy running after some little Gryffindor," Blaise reasoned.

Draco's fists clenched tightly and Hermione didn't trust that he wouldn't put Blaise into the infirmary, the same way he had Malcolm Baddock. Draco's good mood had dissipated rather quickly once they'd left the Prefects' office and he'd been the butt of several jokes and taunting comments. "Draco, now is not the time to get into a fight with Blaise. Don't you need to find Romilda and find out what on earth she was thinking?"

"Yes," Daphne quickly added, "She was looking for you at breakfast." She decided not to add that she'd called him Drakie and look rather distraught that she hadn't seen him since yesterday afternoon. She didn't think Draco needed to know that information yet.

"Besides, you'll want to wrap your … erm … relationship up before sitting down for lunch otherwise she'll expect you to go and sit next to her at the Gryffindor table." Hermione couldn't help but burst into giggles by the end of her sentence.

Draco grumbled something about irritating Gryffindor girlfriends and not helping the situation which just made Hermione laugh even harder. Blaise, Theo and Daphne stared in amazement as Draco pounced on her, tickling her. "Enough, Draco, I can't breathe," Hermione cried, squealing.

"Stop laughing at me then."

Hermione squirmed, trying to pull in some oxygen as Draco tickled her mercilessly. "Ok, ok, I surrender."

Draco let up immediately and had to hold the panting Hermione up, "Say you're sorry."

"No," she said stubbornly.

Draco raised his hands in threat, wriggling his fingers menacingly. "Alright, I'm sorry," Hermione said sulkily not wanting to risk being tickled again.

"Give me a kiss to say sorry," Draco demanded.

Hermione huffed, "You're such a blackmailing brat."

"Er, yep, Slytherin remember."

Hermione pouted at Draco in mock anger but soon gave in, leaned up and kissed him. They soon forgot about their audience as they enthusiastically made up for lost time.

Blaise coughed rather loudly after five minutes of enduring them snog in front of him. "Hello? Remember us?"

Hermione pulled away, dark red with embarrassment. Public displays of affection were not her thing at all. Draco just smirked at his friends smugly, and refused to let Hermione go and slink off to her room.

"I see you two have made up," Theo remarked.

"Yep, it seems Hermione couldn't stand the sight of another girl's grubby mitts all over me."

Hermione glared at him crossly before whacking him. "God, you're such a git, Malfoy."

"Good job I have a thing for jealous shrews with a violent streak."

"You do realise that this may be the shortest relationship on record if you don't stop being such an arrogant prick," Hermione warned. Draco shut up, not wanting to push Hermione too far.

Blaise sniggered, "Under the thumb already I see, Draco. What happened to your Malfoy pride now?"

Draco threw a cushion at his head, "Only Hermione gets away with murder, Blaise. I'll still hex you until the Weaslette doesn't recognise you anymore."

"Oooh Draco, you're soooo scary," Blaise teased, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Anyway, enough of this, go and find Romilda," Hermione ordered Draco, looking to get out of this embarrassing conversation.

"Yes ma'am," Draco said with a wink before blowing her a kiss and leaving the common room.

Hermione sighed and flopped onto a sofa next to Daphne, who grinned, pulled her in for a hug and squealed "You two are the cutest! Tell me everything."

Theo looked at Blaise, "Unless you want to listen to Daphne becoming increasing high-pitched and excitable, I think this is our cue to leave."

* * *

><p><em>The Hogwarts Dungeons<em>

It wasn't hard to find Romilda, she was lurking around the entrance to the dungeons, obviously waiting for Draco. When he showed up, she shrieked and flung her arms around him. Draco shivered, it reminded him of his fourth-year when Pansy fancied herself in love with him, lost her mind and had behaved in precisely the same manner. "Drakie, where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere."

Draco resisted the temptation to hex her on the spot, especially as she made his mood worse by calling him Drakie. Why anyone felt the need to corrupt his name was beyond him. It wasn't as if Draco was hard to pronounce or even very long. He just about put up with his friends calling him Drake, as long as they didn't do it too often. "Come with me a minute, there's an empty classroom just off here."

Romilda smiled in what she thought was an obviously flirtatious manner. "I've missed you too, poppet," She said in a fake husky voice. Poppet? What the fuck was a poppet? It sounded like something you called a toddler not Draco Malfoy. Wasn't he scary to anyone anymore?

"Erm, yeah," he said vaguely and pulled her into the old classroom and cast a silencing spell.

"Ok, the game's up, Romilda, but I would like to know why you did it. I mean, you've never been one of the girls who follow me around."

Romilda looked confused, "What are you talking about? What game?"

Draco raked his hand through his hair in frustration, "The fact that you slipped me a love potion in those chocolates."

"What? Why would I slip you a love potion?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out but you're being deliberately dense," Draco yelled.

Romilda flinched at the level of his voice, "Do I have to remind you that you are the one who sought me out?"

"Yes, but only because you gave me drug induced chocolates, which, by the way, is the only way you'd have got me to seek you out. I didn't even know who you were." Draco hit back.

Draco felt a twinge of regret as he saw the hurt in her eyes. He didn't like the feeling and blamed it on the presence of Hermione in his life. He wasn't even being particularly mean by his standards. "Look, I don't want to shout at you, I just want to know why."

"I didn't do anything. I thought you liked me. Are you telling me that you don't love me and don't want to be my boyfriend?" Romilda said, beginning to cry.

If there was one thing Draco hated it was crying girls. He should have let Hermione handle this, but at the time, it had seemed cowardly. A man should always be able to end his relationships, no matter how fake, himself. Besides, he was worried that Hermione would hex the girl without letting her speak. It was incredibly tempting for Draco to do the same but he thought he should give her a chance to explain herself first. "Yes, I'm … erm … sorry, but no, I don't have any real feelings for you. I was given a love potion. So you're saying that you didn't give me the _Amortentia_?"

"Yes, why would I do that?"

"Well, Hermione did mention that you tried to use a love potion on Potter back in our sixth-year."

Romilda sneered at the mention of Hermione, "Granger would have told you that. She's always had it in for me, stupid cow."

Draco controlled his rage, getting angry at her for insulting Hermione wasn't going to get him anywhere. Besides, he may have been dick when he was younger, but even then he'd never hit a girl and he didn't plan on starting now. "We owe Granger, she realised that I was under the potion and got rid of the infected chocolates."

Romilda didn't feel any particular gratitude. Despite finding out that Draco hadn't really been in love with her didn't mean that wouldn't have liked to continue with the relationship for a while longer. Her stock had gone through the roof. The Gryffindor girl who'd brought the King Snake to his knees. Her friends had been pea-green with envy. Now she was going to be the laughing stock as everyone realised that he'd only behaved that way because he was 'under the influence'. "So, I guess we're over then."

Draise looked at her in disbelief. Was the girl for real? "Yes, I actually have feelings for someone else."

Romilda snorted, it wasn't too hard to figure out whom. Now, all her friends were going to throw her comments about stealing Malfoy away from Granger in her face. "You do believe me about the love potion, right? I mean, everyone is going to laugh at me now the truth is going to come out."

"Yeah, I believe you. I don't think anyone could fake your level of surprise at my accusations. Don't let anyone's comments get you down. You're a nice girl, Romilda, just not the one for me," Draco said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, feeling a lot more generous now he knew she wasn't to blame. He could even overlook her annoying traits and her dislike of Hermione if it meant he escaped any more tears.

Romilda felt her heart flutter. Damn it, why did he have to end up being so sweet? She'd rather the old Malfoy had slayed her with cruelty. At least he'd be easier to get over that way. Before he'd sought her out, she'd admired from afar but never felt any desire to join his horde of admiring, stalkerish females. Now, she thought she should run for President of the I Heart Draco Malfoy fan club. She sighed as he walked out of the empty classroom; life was so unfair at times.

* * *

><p><em>Astronomy Tower<em>

Draco didn't get a chance to speak to Hermione properly until late that afternoon. He'd spent the day trying to attempt damage limitation and he knew this was best done away from his compassionate Gryffindor girlfriend. He'd already regained the terrified respect of the first, second and third-years through some severe intimidation tactics, lots of lost points for the other three houses and several detentions later. His reputation as a Prefect to steer clear of was well and truly reinforced. Daphne had once against enlisted the help of her little sister, Astoria, and between them they had gossiped far and wide about the fact that Draco had been under a love potion. It didn't do much for his status as one of cleverest wizards at Hogwarts, but he'd rather that took a hit, than other students actually believed he'd fallen in love with Romilda Vane and behaved in such a distressing manner. He was now feeling pretty satisfied with his day's work and wanted to fill Hermione in on the fact that they had a culprit to find. He'd briefly told her in passing that Romilda wasn't to blame. She'd looked severely disappointed but he hadn't had an opportunity to elaborate. He knew that she liked to go up to the Astronomy Tower to watch the sunset. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her back into his body. He nuzzled her neck in greeting, loving the fact that she sighed contently and relaxed against him.

"Have you got time now to explain why you think Vane is innocent?" She asked.

"Yep, that's what I came to do, other than snog you senseless, of course."

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled at this, waiting for Draco to stop teasing her and fill her in. He gave her a blow-by-blow description of his conversation with Romilda, amused by her disappointed pout when she agreed with him that it seemed unlikely the fifth-year could have given Draco the chocolates. "So who do you think it was?" Hermione asked.

They both fell silent as they wracked their brains trying to work out who wanted to humiliate Draco that way. Previously, Draco would have put Potter and the Weasel right at the top of his list but he didn't think they'd want to put Hermione through all that pain. Unless, of course, they were hoping it would change her mind about him. "You don't think it would be your two numbskull friends, do you?" He asked, knowing already what her answer would be.

"No," she said immediately, "I mean why would they do such a thing?"

"Er, have you attended Hogwarts for the past 8 years? We're not exactly bosom buddies and I doubt they're thrilled at the prospect of you dating me."

"Yeah, true, but you're forgetting one thing. We weren't exactly getting along before you went under the potion. And there is no way Harry would run the risk of Pansy's wrath if he got caught."

"I guess you're right. I mean, it's not as if they had you to plan it out for them and neither of them are the brightest sparks in Potions, even if Potter had a lucky run in our sixth-year, which, to be honest, is fishy."

Hermione giggled, she didn't get so wound up about Harry's use of Snape's old textbook anymore. "You'd be right in thinking that Harry's miraculous climb to top of the Potions leader-board wasn't done on brains, graft and hard-work. He found Snape's old Potions textbook in the cupboard with loads of instructions on each potion as well several made-up hexes, including, I may add,_ Sectumsempra_."

"That sneaky, cheating prick. I knew he couldn't have got so good at Potions just with a change of professor. Ha, I bet that drove you insane, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. Losing top-spot and not even for a legitimate reason."

Hermione wrinkled her nose, "I did get very wound up about it. I like to think purely because he was using a book magically without knowing the source of the notes, but I have to be honest, a large part was because I was jealous of the raw talent the previous owner had."

"Severus was a genius."

They went back to thinking about who could have planted the love potion. It seemed a very odd way to gain revenge against Draco because, although he had some embarrassment about the way he'd behaved, it was easy to clear up because everyone knew that people under the influence _Amortentia_ behaved in very strange ways. "You know, I still can't get over the fact that you are the only one who noticed I was acting completely out of character," Draco mused before stopping suddenly. He looked over at Hermione and saw the light dawning in her eyes too.

"No," she whispered, "They wouldn't."

"Oh, they bloody would. It's perfectly Slytherin in nature also."

"But how would they pick out Romilda Vane. I mean she was the perfect candidate in that I knew all about her attempts to do the same to Harry."

Draco quirked his eyebrows and looked at Hermione cynically. "No, I don't believe it. Harry and Ron wouldn't do that to me," she said adamantly.

Draco snorted, "Yeah, but they'd enjoy doing it to me immensely. Ron has had this irritating smirk on his face all day every time he has seen me. He enjoyed it, the ginger twat."

"But what would be the motivation behind it?"

"Pansy and her damn matchmaking. She's been nagging at me for weeks to swallow my pride, run after you and beg you to change your mind. She's also devious enough to come up with such an evil plan and she wouldn't mind sacrificing me in the process."

"But how would they get the _Amortentia_ to work if they brewed it rather than Romilda?"

"Weren't we just talking about one particular Potions genius a few minutes ago? One who my friends have unlimited access too?"

"Snape! But he wouldn't stoop to such lows. He always sneered at the very mention of _Amortentia_ and those desperate enough to use it."

"Don't underestimate the power of boredom or indeed that of meddling Godfathers."

"Why would Snape want his precious Godson to date, and I quote, "an insufferable know-it-all"? It makes no sense."

"Ha, you actually believe that Severus dislikes you?

"Erm, yes, he's hardly ever been nice to me."

"That's because he was pissed that you are the most talented Potions student he's ever taught and you were a bloody Gryffindor with Potter as a best friend. He'd have worshipped you if you had been sorted into Slytherin," Draco said, ignoring Hermione's pretend retching. "And, at the very least, adored you if you'd been in Ravenclaw but he couldn't stomach outwardly praising one of the Golden Trio. Besides, if I know Severus at all, then I know he'd love Potter losing you to a Malfoy."

Hermione smacked Draco around the head, "Harry hasn't lost me to anyone."

"Yet," Draco muttered before smoothing his hair down and remonstrating with Hermione for mussing it up.

Hermione endured his pathetic whining for a short-while before pulling them back on track, "So what do we do?"

Draco grinned evilly, "I may have some plans but it'd mean leaving your annoying," he saw Hermione's dangerously narrowed eyes, "I mean, your adorable desire to be nice to everyone behind."

Hermione pursed her lips in thought, "I think I can be persuaded to ignore that rather admirable part of my character for a short while."

Draco hoisted Hermione up onto the battlements, leaning his forehead against hers, "You are becoming practically Slytherin in your mindset, sweetheart. It's such a turn-on." He remarked before kissing her thoroughly.

**AN: I loved writing this chapter and having Draco & Hermione together in it.**

**I'm not decided yet on how they should get back at their naughty friends – any suggestions?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: Thank you very much for your continuing alerts and favourites. As for everyone who reviews, you are all amazing and keep me one very happy writer. I hope D&H's revenge lives up to expectations. It was difficult thinking of ways for them to hit back at 7 friends and thank you for all your suggestions. You are a very evil bunch of people.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

_The Great Hall_

The Great Hall was quiet. It was a sleepy Monday morning and the student body and professors were more interested in shovelling down their breakfasts and slurping on coffee and tea to wake up than talking to each other. All except one student, Ginny Weasley certainly was a morning person. She was currently talking the rest of her poor house to death whilst they nodded and pretended to actually be paying attention. That's why it was such a shock when she went quiet. The silence was deafening. Her follow housemates were drawn out of their individual contemplation by the peaceful atmosphere that had descended when her mouth closed. They looked confused; nothing shut Ginny Weasley up, with the possible exception of Blaise Zabini, but only when he kissed her. They saw the surprise on her face and her moving her mouth with no sound coming out. She looked at Harry and Ron to see if they could help but they just stared at her in bemusement.

Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Guess you've finally lost your voice, Gin. Had to happen sometime, vocal chords can't be used that much without sustaining some damage." He was blatantly taking advantage of the fact that she couldn't harangue him or indeed hex him with the professors gazing on. Her infuriated gaze promised retribution. He sniggered and stuffed yet another spoonful of scrambled eggs in his mouth. His smug laughter was short lived as, with a sudden pop, he turned into an Orang-utan. There was an uproar as he jumped on the table, laying waste to the Gryffindor breakfast spread.

McGonagall jumped up looking to help, along with Professors Flitwick and Slughorn but nothing they shot off at him appeared to work. This apparently was all it needed to cause the student body to go from sleepy dopiness to over-excited frenzy.

Over at the Slytherin table, one curly haired brunette whacked her handsome blond boyfriend. "I thought we were going to give Ron that potion in a quieter place."

Draco smirked back at his girlfriend, "I'm a Malfoy. We like to make a splash. What better place than breakfast on Monday morning?"

"Wow, George really has done a good job modifying his canary creams for us," Hermione said.

"I love the fact that he went with my suggestion of turning Ron into the overgrown ginger Orang-utan that he is."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. She knew she should never have let Draco plot with George without her supervision. Once they'd got over the inevitable Malfoy-Weasley spat, they'd actually discovered themselves to be kindred spirits.

"Good job, by the way, on silencing Ginny. She's going to be a nervous wreck by the end of the day," Draco complemented Hermione.

She preened, pleased with exploiting her friend's inability to be quiet at any point. "Two down, five to go," she responded.

Draco smirked evilly at Hermione, "I love your inner Slytherin. She's so damn sexy."

* * *

><p><em>Herbology Greenhouses<em>

Pansy looked confused as Blaise snuck into the Gyffindor-Hufflepuff Herbology class. She frowned at him and whispered, "What are you doing here? Disappear quickly before Sprout notices you."

She spoke too soon, as Professor Sprout turned round and noticed the tall, dark Slytherin currently in her greenhouse when he shouldn't be. "Mr Zabini, what may I ask, are you doing in my class? You are neither a Gryffindor nor a Hufflepuff."

Blaise twiddled his thumbs, looking uncomfortable. "I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Professor?" he asked.

"This is most irregular, Mr Zabini, but if it is urgent enough for you to interrupt my class, then I guess you can speak to me. Let's go outside."

Dean sniggered, turned to Harry and Pansy, pointing Blaise's tie as he turned to follow Sprout out of the greenhouse door. "Has Zabini transfigured his tie into Hufflepuff colours?"

Harry scrabbled around in his bag and pulled something out, "I knew I had one of these lying around still." He held an extendable ear. "Let's find out what Zabini is up to."

The three huddled together, leaning over the extendable ear. "Please Professor, I'd really like to transfer into your house," they heard Blaise pleading.

Pansy looked alarmed whilst Harry and Ron couldn't hold the laughter in. "Mr Zabini, you were sorted into Slytherin House. The Sorting Hat chooses all students houses and we don't meddle with that process by transferring people who feel they have been sorted incorrectly."

"But I should be in Hufflepuff. Your house is a much better fit for me."

"You've never expressed this desire before, Mr Zabini. Indeed, you have seemed very happy in your house."

"I didn't think to challenge the status quo but really I feel that I should be allowed to switch. I should be allowed to be with the house that I identify the most with."

"This is beyond my jurisdiction, Mr Zabini. I've never received a request like this before and don't believe a transfer can be facilitated."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me in your House," Blaise sulked.

Professor Sprout huffed rather exasperatedly, "No, no, that's not it at all. In Hufflepuff, we don't discriminate against anyone. I guess I can go and speak to Professor McGonagall if you are sure this is what you would like. I suppose this may well fall under her new House Unity policy and you may be allowed to switch."

Blaise whooped and went to hug Professor Sprout, who quickly backed away, fending him off. "Now, Mr Zabini, I believe that you are meant to be in Charms. Please make you way to your class before Professor Flitwick worries you have been kidnapped."

Harry quickly stuffed the extendable ear back into his bag as Professor Sprout re-entered the greenhouse looking rather flushed and flustered. "What was that all about?" He asked Pansy.

Pansy's brow was furrowed as she dissected the overheard conversation, "I don't know. It's most unlike Blaise. No Slytherin would ever be friends with a Hufflepuff let alone want to be in that house. Something is definitely up."

Harry nodded, "First Ron and Ginny and now Blaise. This isn't normal at all."

* * *

><p><em>Charms Classroom<em>

Blaise walked into the Charms classroom fifteen minutes late. "Nice of you to join us," Professor Flitwick remarked. "Any reason for your extreme tardiness to my class, Mr Zabini?"

"I went to speak to Professor Sprout, sir," Blaise responded.

Professor Flitwick, "I will have to give you detention. I cannot tolerate such lateness to my class even if you were speaking to a fellow professor."

Blaise just nodded and slid into his seat. Draco poked Hermione in the side, "Sweetheart, have you seen what Blaise has done to his tie?" He chuckled.

Hermione looked up from where she was concentrating on her textbook, "Yes, I saw him transfigure it just after I hit him with the spell."

Draco smirked at his girlfriend, "You really are wicked, Hermione. I love this particular plan of yours. Blaise is never going to live this down."

"Are you ready for the next stage?" She asked the blond.

He nodded, his smirk morphing into an all out evil grin, "I can't wait for this. Theo is going to be scarred for life."

On the count of three, the vengeful couple swished their wands, aimed towards Theo and Daphne. There was a small stiffening in the Slytherin pair, only noticeable if you happened to be paying minute attention to them. Both Hermione and Draco were and they relaxed as they got the required response. "Nice spell you found there," Draco complimented Hermione.

"Thanks, being a bookworm pays off."

"As long as you continue to kiss me in the library, you spend as much time as you like there," Draco leered.

Hermione dug her nails into Draco's thigh, causing him to jump slightly. "Behave yourself, Malfoy."

"Or what, you'll punish me?" Draco asked hopefully.

Hermione was relieved when Professor Flitwick called the class' attention.

It wasn't until halfway through the class that the spell Hermione and Draco had put on Theo and Daphne was revealed. Professor Flitwick split the class up, asking the females to go to one side and the males to the other. The class broke out into giggles as Theo stood up and went to stand next to Hermione and Daphne joined Draco and Blaise.

"Theo," the duplicitous brunette whispered to him, "You're on the wrong side of the class."

Theo looked puzzled at Hermione and Daphne's voice came out of his mouth, "Hermione, are you ok? You just called me Theo."

Hermione made a heroic effort not to burst into laughter at the sound of Daphne's girlie voice coming out of Theo's very masculine frame. "That's because you are Theo, look Daphne is over there," Hermione said, pointing Daphne out.

Daphne's voice shrieked, which caused the class to laugh even harder whilst Theo, trapped in Daphne's body, scowled and yelled, "What's the fuck is going on?"

Professor Flitwick gaped in amazement. Something was definitely off today.

* * *

><p><em>Hogwarts Corridors<em>

Draco was trying his hardest to stay upright he was laughing so much. He was currently following Harry around as he tried to woo his latest 'lady-love'. Draco had definitely pushed Hermione to allow this to happen using the remaining chocolates he had left over. Hermione had protested vigorously, feeling that Draco was being too mean and she also didn't want to hurt Pansy who was currently trailing after Harry, looking distraught. Draco, his cruel streak fully in control, had ignored all Hermione's reservations, saying that he knew Pansy was the one behind the plan as it smacked of her manipulative ways and that Potter deserved it, well, because he was Potter.

Hermione was standing, hands on hips, clearly unhappy with her sneaky boyfriend. "This is just plain nasty, Draco," She complained.

"Yep," He agreed happily. "Come on, Hermione, we agreed to split the punishments up so we had time to research and find some decent hexes. You can't moan now because I happened to pick Harry out of the hat."

"I didn't think you'd be this mean."

Draco shot her a disbelieving look, "How long have you known me now, Hermione? Of course I was going to choose something awful for Potter. And well Pansy, she deserves it. I know she was behind the whole plan."

"But look at her, she looks heartbroken."

"That's because she currently channelling the personality of a nincompoop. Ha, I love seeing Pansy behaving so helpless."

Hermione frowned as she saw Harry chase after Professor Trelawney with a dopey expression on his face.

"Sybil, wait up. Please, my love, say you'll come to Hogsmeade with me tonight."

"Mr Potter, I knew from the very moment that I met you that you'd harbour this undying passion for me but, dear, I cannot sacrifice my professional conduct to indulge you." Professor Trelawney said, blinking rapidly behind her large glasses.

"Please Sybil, I love you. I defeated Voldemort so we could be together."

Trelawney patted Harry's shoulder, "My tarot cards say that you'll never get over me but we are not to be. My crystal ball says that you'll lead an unfulfilled life with your little friend, Miss Parkinson." She shook her head sadly at him, "I'm sorry, my child, you are destined to lead an unhappy life."

"Her!" Harry protested, "She's nothing but an annoying airhead."

Trelawney nodded her agreement whilst Pansy objected in a weak and failing voice, "Harry, how could you? I gave you everything," she cried, sobbing her heart out.

Hermione shot Draco a disapproving glare before going over and wrapping her arms around Pansy. Her unrepentant boyfriend just continued to chuckle away at the disaster unfolding around him.

* * *

><p><em>The Slytherin Common Room<em>

By that evening, Draco had laughed himself hoarse at the entertaining mishaps he and Hermione had unleashed on their friends. Hermione, true to her compassionate nature, was feeling guilty. Luckily, she had been able to persuade Draco that any punishments they dished out shouldn't last longer than a day and their friends were slowly turning back to normal.

Theo and Daphne were currently glaring at each other, having just finished a blazing row after Daphne caught Theo playing with her breasts. Blaise was on his way back down after his meeting with Professors McGonagall and Sprout. He'd had a complete hissy fit when the spell started to wear off and he saw he'd gone around the whole day in a transfigured Hufflepuff uniform. Hermione had spent the afternoon comforting a teary Pansy. She'd cried so much she'd made Moaning Myrtle seem positively chipper.

Blaise stomped into the common room with Ginny, Harry, Pansy and Ron in tow.

"How could you?" Ginny yelled.

Draco put on his patented Malfoy smirk, "Do what, Weaselette?"

Ginny ignored the smug blond git and focused on Hermione, "I expect something like this from that evil prat over there but not you!" Hermione squirmed, feeling guiltier than ever.

"Trelawney? Why would you do that to me?" Harry moaned

"I could ask you the same thing," Draco pointed out, "Romilda Vane? Could you have chosen someone more annoying?"

Pansy, her face still tearstained, whined, "How did you find out?" Her personality change was taking longer than expected to wear off.

Draco raised his right eyebrow, "Hello, I'm not exactly Longbottom and Hermione here is the brightest witch in a long while. Did you really think we wouldn't work it out?"

Their guilty friends all looked at each other, "Wow, you really did think you'd get away with it," Draco laughed. "That makes today so much more satisfying."

"I'm having horrendous flashbacks here of following Trelawney around like some mental patient spouting on about our entwined destinies whilst being horribly cruel to and about Pansy here," Harry said.

"Oh please, save it for someone who cares. The guilt trip won't work on me. Besides, you did this to me for _days_. Fuck that, you had me sitting on the Gryffindor table making calf eyes at Vane whilst she was being hideous towards Hermione."

"But … but _Trelawney_," Harry whined.

"But … but … get a grip, I thought you were meant to the Boy Who Lived or some such shit," Draco mocked. "Anyway, I thought you and Trelawney made such an adorable couple. Both cracked in the head."

Pansy glared at Draco, "Why the personality change? I was a clingy, whining, useless lump!"

Draco smirked evilly, "Call it pay back for fourth-year and that awful nickname you gave me."

"You're such a vindictive prat, Malfoy," Ginny snapped.

"How is that news?" Draco hit back.

"Besides, you guys started it," Hermione reasoned. "You meddled in Draco and my relationship."

"Yeah, but with good intentions," Daphne said. "And it worked; you guys got together and are happy."

"I'm even happier after today," Draco reminisced.

"You're a git," Ginny spat at him.

"And?" Draco shot back.

Ron was still a slight side of orange all over, "You wait until I tell George you've messed with his Canary Creams. He's going to sue you, Malfoy."

Draco smirked smugly, "Who do you think helped me?"

"Th …tha…. that traitor!" Ron spluttered.

"If you have all quite finished behaving like a bunch of dunderheads, Professor McGonagall is asking for Miss Granger and Miss Parkinson's presence in her office." Snape drawled from his portrait.

* * *

><p><em>Professor McGonagall's Office<em>

Minerva McGonagall surveyed the two girls over the tops of her glasses. "I thought you'd both be a lot happier at switching back to your houses," She said, slightly peeved that her apparently not so good news had been meant with downturned faces.

"We've got used to where we are and we've formed friendships and, well, relationships," Pansy replied.

Hermione nodded, "I never thought I'd say it, but I actually enjoyed being a Slytherin." She shuddered slightly as she realised what she said and McGonagall looked at her in shock. "I mean, it was nice being the first muggle-born to win them points for goodness knows how long," she defended.

"So, is it possible we can stay where we are?" Pansy asked.

McGonagall smiled, her brows raised ever so slightly. "I must admit, this wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting from the whole house unity plan. It is a pleasant surprise but I'm afraid, as I told your friend Mr Zabini earlier, the sorting hat has never been questioned before and, as of tomorrow, you will be back in your original houses."

Pansy shrugged and looked at Hermione, "I'll miss the view from your room," she said.

Hermione grinned back, "I'll miss the size of your desk. It was perfect for holding all my books."

McGonagall dismissed both girls with a big smile. She leant back in her chair, looked up at Albus Dumbledore and said, "As usual, old man, you were right and this plan was a resounding success."

Albus twinkled down at the current Headmistress, "Who'd have thought eight years ago that we'd have Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy working together to bring chaos to Hogwarts."

Minerva cringed, "I'm still not happy that you and Severus talked me out of hauling the whole lot of them in here and giving them detentions for the rest of their stay at Hogwarts."

"I think we can let them off, they've proved remarkably good at letting the past go and breaking down house rivalries to work together. I'm rather disappointed you didn't award them house points for their sterling efforts," Albus said.

Minerva gave him a repressive look. "I don't think it would be good idea to encourage them, Albus. I'm just grateful that I only have half a year left of Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy's new, rather closer relationship. Those two are going to be difficult to contain."

Severus snorted, rolled his eyes and stalked out of his portrait, robes billowing.

* * *

><p><em>Gryffindor Common Room<em>

Pansy snivelled into Harry's shoulder. "I don't want to leave you, Harry," she said.

"I know, it's going to be so strange not having you here every night." He replied, rubbing her back, in comfort.

Ginny huffed, "Oh get a grip, you two. Blaise and I have coped perfectly fine. It's not as if you won't have ample time to see each other."

"Besides, you can come up here any time, Pans," Ron garbled, around a mouth full of chocolate, "As long as you forget to bring that peroxide ferret."

Pansy winced at the specks of food flying out of Ron's mouth, "Good luck in dictating a no-Malfoy rule to Hermione. She'll hex you into the middle of next week."

Harry sighed, "Sadly Pansy is right. We're going to have to put up with that git regularly. Tell me again why we got him and Hermione together?"

Pansy cuffed him around the head, "Hey, Draco's not too bad and Hermione's good for him. She keeps him grounded and makes him compassionate," Harry, Ron and Ginny snorted in disbelief at her, "Well," Pansy amended, " she gives him a sliver of humanity, which for a Malfoy, is saying something."

* * *

><p><em>Slytherin Common Room<em>

Hermione curled into Draco's side, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm going to miss this," she said, staring into the fire.

"Me too," he whispered in her ear.

"Are you sure McGonagall won't budge and let you stay a Slytherin?" Daphne asked.

"Nope, and really she's right. Can you imagine the nightmare of students deciding they want to change houses every time they start a relationship with a new person, and wishing to switch back once they broke up with that person?" Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, guess you're right," Daphne responded.

"You'd never get me asking to be a Gryffindork just because I'm dating Hermione," Malfoy drawled.

Blaise sniggered, "Can you imagine Draco in Gryffindor? That'd be worth an entry in _Hogwarts: A History_."

Theo laughed, "Besides, it's not as if Hermione won't be visiting down here most nights, right, Draco."

Draco nodded.

"Hey, who said Draco won't come and see me?" Hermione objected.

Theo scoffed, "Good luck with that one, Hermione. I think Draco thinks he'll get some sort of disease if he stepped foot in the Gryffindor common room."

Draco shuddered, "I might catch poverty from the Weasleys … or even worse, Gingeritis."

Hermione nudged him in the shoulder, "Play nice! The Weasleys have been a second family to me. You'd do a lot worse than become like them."

Draco looked at Hermione horrified, "I'm a Malfoy. We have standards."

"Yeah, standards in evil," Blaise chuckled. "And there's nothing wrong with red-heads. Ginny's hot, even you can't deny that."

"She's not bad for a she-weasel, I guess. Feisty brunettes with genius levels of intelligence are more my thing."

Hermione beamed up at Draco, "Do you really think I'm a genius?"

Before Draco could respond, there was heavy sigh from Snape's portrait. "I knew this house unity rubbish was a mistake. Look at you, Draco, you're becoming nauseatingly sweet. It's not Slytherin, let alone Malfoy."

"What can I say? She's too cute for me to resist," Draco responded, pulling Hermione even closer for a long kiss.

Theo and Blaise gagged whilst Snape sneered and turned away. "I think I'll take my chances with the repulsively smug Gryffindors in the Head Office."

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><p><strong>AN2: We're coming to the end now with only the Epilogue to go. <strong>

**Please review and let me know what you thought about this chapter. I hope it wasn't a let down.**


	20. Epilogue

**Author's Note: *sad face* Here it is, possibly the cheesiest Epilogue ever written in Fan Fiction history. I just couldn't resist! Hope you enjoy.**

**I'd like to thank all of you who have read, alerted and favourited this story. But I'd like to save the biggest thanks to all my amazing reviewers. It really isn't a lie when I say that you guys are what have kept me going to complete this and also to start two other stories. Your reviews have made me laugh, blush and have inspired me no end, so big air kisses to you all.**

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><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

The Quidditch stands were packed for the last game of the year. The fact that the match scheduled was Gryffindor versus Slytherin meant that the stands were full to bursting. The fact that it was the final time Hogwarts would host Potter versus Malfoy meant that the crowd was at fever pitch. The match was so eagerly awaited that ex-Hogwarts students had turned up. Most noticeably in Gryffindor's stand was red and gold royalty in the presence of George Weasley. He'd also brought along his new range of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes' fireworks and was planning on a spectacular after-show. As this game would decide who won the Quidditch Cup, George had designed special fireworks to honour whichever team won. He had also reinstated the betting book and he and his sadly departed twin, Fred, had run during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. There weren't many takers outside of Slytherin house for a Slytherin victory. No-one gave Malfoy much of a chance. He'd never managed to catch the snitch before the supremely talented Potter and only the most optimistic of Slytherins thought that Malfoy could do it this time. Surprisingly, George had joined these reptilian optimists and placed his money on a Slytherin win with Malfoy to catch the snitch. Gryffindor was in an uproar over this decision. It was strange enough that their Golden Girl was dating the snake but now to have their King Prankster backing him publicly was little more than a scandal.

George and Draco had sprung up an unlikely friendship over turning Ron into a giant Orang-utan. It had culminated in George inviting Draco to the Burrow for his New Years' party. The reasoning he gave his bemused parents for the invitation and his infuriated little brother was that if they wanted Hermione to come then they'd have to suffer the presence of the youngest Malfoy. Sadly for those without a vested interest, such as Luna, Blaise and Neville, the evening had been a massive success. Draco had left the cruel side of his personality at Malfoy Manor, and, with the exception of several cutting snarky comments, aimed mainly at Ron and Harry, he had been charming. He'd certainly charmed Molly, who hadn't shut up for the rest of the holiday about how 'Poor Draco' was just misunderstood which was outright disturbing for Ron and Harry. He'd also managed to befriend the eldest two Weasley boys, despite Bill's obvious desire not to forgive him for getting him scarred by Fenrir Greyback. Bill, Charlie and Draco had then trounced Harry, Ron, Ginny and George in the annual New Years Day Weasley versus Weasley Quidditch match. Draco's much improved seeking abilities in this game is what led George to bet on him to catch the snitch in today's game. That, and the fact that he was ten times hungrier for win than Harry.

The feeling of outrage overtaking the Gryffindor fans was whipped into a frenzy just before kick-off when their aforementioned Golden Girl was spotted sitting next to Blaise, Theo and Daphne in the Slytherin stand wearing the humongous Slytherin scarf once more. They'd been able to overlook this disturbing tendency when Slytherin had played Hufflepuff, mainly because Hermione had made sure she wore her red and gold Gryffindor scarf for the Gryffindor games, where she'd cheered loudly for Harry, Ron and Ginny much to the disgust of Draco, who outright refused to sit with her in the Gryffindor stands. The Gryffindor fans had been smugly ribbing their Slytherin counterparts just before Hermione had appeared because Pansy had chosen to sit with them and support Harry. The indifferent response of the Slytherins to their jeers was now understood and to say Gryffindor house wasn't too pleased was an understatement. The occurrence of George and Hermione both backing their enemy was beginning to shake their previous overwhelming confidence that Gryffindor would steam-roller Slytherin.

"Woah, Hermione, are you sure you're going to be safe in Gryffindor Tower this evening?" Blaise asked looking in concern at the venomous glares currently aimed at the brunette.

Hermione laughed, "Oh please, like any of them could touch me in a duel. Besides, the whole point of the house unity exercise was to break down barriers so that I could choose to support my boyfriend over my house."

Theo raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, I think maybe in a century, when you and Draco's great-great grandchild is dating that of Pansy and Harry, will supporting your boyfriend over your house just about be allowed."

Hermione gave Theo her best repressive stare, reminding him all too much of McGonagall. "Slytherin don't seem to mind Pansy's defection for this game."

"That's because we're Slytherins, we don't have the bull-headed stubbornness of Gryffindors, and besides we know that in stealing you we will cause several Gryffindor aneurisms."

"Ever the manipulative house," Hermione said sarcastically.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Theo chuckled.

"Shush you two, the teams are coming out," Daphne interrupted.

Hermione smirked at Draco and blew a kiss at him. His surprise at seeing her next to his friends, in his house stand and wearing his scarf had nearly knocked him off his broom. He noticed that Harry had a similar reaction to Pansy's attendance in the Gryffindor part of the Quidditch stands. The girls had managed to keep their plans very quiet. Draco also observed that the girls' actions had heightened the tension surrounding the game. He smiled hugely at his curly haired witch before putting his game face on. He was determined to end his Hogwarts Quidditch career with a victory over Potter.

The game was the longest Hogwarts had hosted for a long while. Both teams were perfectly matched and the lead ebbed and flowed whilst the sun travelled across the sky. The excitement and skill of the players meant that no-one moved from the stands, even as the sky began to darken. Blaise was long suffering next to Hermione, who kept his arm in a death-grip and dug her nails in sharply every time one of her friends nearly took a blow from the bludger.

"I'm glad you and Draco only started dating this year," he grumbled at her, as she retracted her claws for, what felt like, the hundredth time.

She gave him a withering glare, "Says the man who almost broke my hand when Ginny just missed colliding with Harper."

"He's lucky that he managed to pull out in time, otherwise I may have had to beat him into a bloody pulp."

"I'm not sure who he'd rather face after the game, you for hurting Ginny or Draco for not following through and letting Ginny score."

"I'd say he's rather regretting his actions, Draco will make mince-meat out of him," Theo piped up.

Hermione's attention had already wavered, she squeaked as Draco and Harry both dived towards the grassy pitch below. They'd obviously both caught sight of the snitch and there was the kind of quiet that you only achieve with the collective inhaling of hundreds of people together.

As Harry and Draco hurtled to potential death all to catch a tiny golden ball, Hermione was frantically scrabbling at Blaise's arm. He was too engrossed in the battle between the two seekers to pay much attention. As the committed Quidditch player came closer and closer to crashing into the grass, Hermione turned her head completely into Blaise's shoulder, unable to watch anymore. Her agony at not knowing what was happening was only eased as a massive roar went up around the stands. Hermione was picked up and almost flung into the air by Blaise, "We won, we won," he shouted into her ear. Hermione looked down at saw a ruffled but immensely pleased Draco grasping the snitch and holding it high. Harry was looking a little disconsolate nearby.

Hermione let out a scream and rushed down to the pitch. As she reached her ecstatic boyfriend, she jumped into his arms and smothered him in kisses. "You did it," she yelled at him before burying her face in his neck.

"Unsurprisingly, seeing a certain witch wearing a certain scarf up in the stand this morning gave me the right motivation," he said

"I love you," she whispered into his ear.

"I love you more," he whispered back, kissing her long and hard.

"Hey back up and give us real Slytherins some time with our champion," Blaise said, removing Hermione from the smitten seeker's arms.

Draco scowled at his friend, "You're lucky I'm in a good mood, Zabini, otherwise that move may have got you a nasty hex and a prolonged stay in the infirmary. And what do you mean real Slytherins? She's my girl which makes her as Slytherin as anyone."

Hermione patted Draco's cheek affectionately, "Go and play with your friends, I'll be back in a minute."

"You better be," he growled at her.

Hermione ran over to Harry and pulled him into a consolation hug, "I was so worried both of you would kill yourself," she said.

Harry smiled at her, tugged on her green and silver scarf, "What's this, missy?"

Hermione blushed, "Well Pansy and I decided to switch houses once more for the afternoon."

"I noticed. I can't even rely on my best friends to support me," he said in mock anger before giving her a wink.

Pansy came up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I think I'm bad luck. All the times I've supported Draco against you and the one time I want you to win and he finally goes and does it."

"I'd rather have your support than the snitch," Harry said sappily.

Ron came over, looking irate and dragging his sister behind him. "Have you heard what George went and did?"

Harry shook his head in response. "He only went and bet against Gryffindor winning the match. The traitor! That git Malfoy has corrupted not only Hermione but now George," Ron said with steam practically pouring out of his ears.

"Ahhh there goes the rather magnificent present I had picked out for, you ungrateful whelp," George said from behind Ron. "Maybe Malfoy will want the new Firebolt instead," he mused.

Ron went from pink to red to purple in less than ten seconds, "You wouldn't! That evil prat can afford to buy his own broomstick."

Harry, Hermione and Ginny sniggered at the angry Weasley, knowing full well that George was teasing him.

"And Hermione, don't think I didn't notice you cheering on _Slytherin_," Ron hissed at her. "Some Gryffindor Princess you turned out to be."

Arms snaked around Hermione's waist, "Did you not get the memo, Weasel? Hermione's Slytherin's Princess now," Draco mocked, enjoying the sight of Ron getting even angrier.

Ginny cuffed Ron around the head, "Calm down, you prat. I think it's sweet that Hermione and Pansy swapped. Although I did notice that you, Blaise, didn't join in," Ginny said, hands on hips, glaring at the dark Slytherin.

Draco sniggered at his friend's discomfort, "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be the Weaselette's bitch, Blaise."

Blaise ignored the obnoxious blond, put his arm around his hot-headed girlfriend's shoulders and whispered, "I'm wearing red and gold underwear for you."

Ginny smirked and gave him a kiss as a reward.

"As much as I am loathe to interrupt all this lovey-dovey-ness," George said, "But my firework display is about to commence."

The mixed group of Gryffindors and Slytherins gazed up towards the sky with the rest of Hogwarts and watched in awe as George's latest, improved batch of fireworks impressed them all.

As promised, George had designed fireworks to honour the Quidditch Cup holders, and a large snake exploded, hissing at all and sundry but particularly those wearing Gryffindor colours. However, George couldn't suppress his mischievous side and much to the amusement of all, Slytherins included, the snake morphed into a bouncing platinum ferret which swooped and bounded across the sky before exploding into thousands of little lights that descended on the student body.

George saluted Draco. "I thought you'd enjoy that last one in particular, Malfoy."

**AN: So there you have it. The end of my first ever fan fiction. Hopefully many more will follow. Cheesy I know but I hope you all forgive me for that.**

**I've just started a new Dramione fiction in response to a challenge I was given. I'd love it if all my readers jumped over to my profile, clicked on it, read, alerted, and gave me their opinion on its start in a lovely, nice review … so no pressure :) **


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